Dark Times
by Butterfly Crown
Summary: This is set after the 5th season of there's an OC in it but only for story line. A very dark story & I've rated it T just to be safe there are a few pairings in here, but please don't flame me if your favorite one isn't. No action button but that's what it predominately is. I hope you enjoy the speech patterns being kept, now redoing of some chapters so you may have to reread.
1. Black Warning

**Chapter 1**

Robin paced back and forth in the tower's exercise room becoming increasingly more agitated as he did so. "How could this happen? I'm the one to blame, I didn't think to warn them. Stupid and Naive. It's not just the original Teen Titans that are in danger, every honorary Titan is in trouble."

Flash/Back

It was dark the night that this new villain showed up. Mumbo Jumbo had been carted off to prison shortly beforehand, and the Titans had thought to catch a movie. As the fierce debate between horror, science fiction or action carried on, a pair of foot steps mimicking the troop's came from behind. Robin began to feel another's eyes watching him, but when he turned to look there wasn't even a breeze to justify this irrationality. The other members of the team took their time to stop.

Everyone felt the wrongness of the situation that had gone unnoticed in the debate. The silence began to scream at them in the night's now crushing embrace. Tense as the sweat rolled down their backs, everyone's ears were straining to catch some sort of sound. Thus they were caught unprepared as the attack came in total silence.

"Ouch!" yelped Beast Boy touching the back of his neck, the red and salty liquid that coated his finger tips made him sick to his stomach. The air displacement was easily noted thanks to the income of adrenaline, as well the familiar shout from their masked leader, "Titans Go!" The group rushed in different directions to find cover and discover who, what, and from where the attack was coming. The well rehearsed tactic proved disastrous, the darkness working to the Titans absolute disadvantage. All of them running into one another while being attacked on all fronts.

Robin and Beast Boy spectacularly collided in a enormous display of chaotic legs and arms jumbled together. Starfire's usually coordinated flight patterns were destroyed as she slammed into a lamppost. Cyborg managed to make it to a dumpster where Raven had already materialized. A quick glance told her all she needed to know about the situation. There wasn't time to warn anyone or try to gather them together before hand.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven's dark energy consumed the entire block in a bubble like form, pulling the others close to her as well as their "attackers". She motioned for Starfire to raise her flaming hand above them to reveal- "Shards of Glass?" Beast Boy spoke, surprised of the unusual weapon. Starfire turned to Robin to figure out yet another puzzling human thing.

"I did not know your planet made such unusual weapons. They are very fragile. Ouch! Sharp points though." Starfire sucked on her finger reflexively. Robin was spared from answering when Raven was forced to let go of her shield from the brutal onslaught. The team knew better than to scatter this time and ran for an adjoining alley-what ever this was, civilians shouldn't get involved. Their heads where pounding by the time the alley became a sort of street again.

"Do you...think we...lost...it dudes?" Beast Boys panted. The question would not be answered by the reassuring no. It would be answered by the figure that cut through the night, seen where the alley met a broken lamppost. Nonchalantly leaning against the twisted metal in a sea of broken glass was a teen. Dressed in all black undistinguished clothes, with strait, short blonde hair, pale skin tones, and light green eyes that cut through the gloom. The abundance of white mak-no. They found out very quickly when the girl turned her head to examine the truth was far different.

It was not make up the girl was wearing but a white half-mask that revealed the left side of her face. A burn that took up the majority of her left cheek and part of her forehead. It was a repulsive contrast, charcoal black against pale white skin. The revelation left the Titans stunned. Starfire in particular was astounded so much that she fell from the sky like a stone and her star bolts withered and died. She had seen people missing body parts before, and that did not bother her in the slightest. The difference was that this had been done to her-not a war wound or any other glory filled memory-someone had destroyed another's face in an unbelievable act of torture and cruelty.

The utter silence that had taken over apart from the faint thud Starfire had made was eerie. Later, it would help them remember several things about that evening. 1) that the girl did not move an inch nor glow when the glass at her feet sprang toward them. 2) the displaced air that had been heard earlier was undoubtedly from the same source. 3) Every tip of the glass shards had a blackish sheen to it.

The one whom had fallen rose again to defend her friends in a way that ended up saving their lives that night. The counter attack however was short lived as sirens began to sing in the night. The girl had left marks all over the Titans bodies in the form of sore feet, cuts and bruises. Writing on the wall how ever was the most notable as it gleamed blindingly from the police car rushing past, burning into their retinas.

"I am Black Glass;

Cold as ice and Sharp as a crystalline knife,

Tempered to oblivion,

Turning me cruel,

Just like you,

Titans."

The Titans youngest member fainted from blood loss and had to be quickly carried into the T-car. Raven used her powers to heal him just prolonging the time until he could go into the medical room in the tower. The trip back however was breakneck speed and in total silence. A evening June tainted with an unnatural chill. The thoughts of the Titans are as follows:

Robin: I can't understand it, they knew who we are, what were are weaknesses, and they may have even lured us to the street for all I know. I didn't think ahead to the fact that more villains and dangerous ones at that would target us. I was cocky enough to think that we wouldn't get attacked, that we would only stop crime. That may have been why we were targeted, or a vendetta, Beast Boy is-Damn. I can't let anyone else do that to the team, what if Cyborg, Raven, or even Starfire is next. I could bear it if it was me but not my team.

Starfire: How could one who has been so awfully hurt seek to put more misery in the world? Why have I never seen another who has been hurt like that? Is it that as a Titan I can stop that as well as crime, or that I have been to busy with crime too notice the others who are being hurt like that? Has my selflessness truly been selfish as is my relationship with Robin? I don't know so much of this world, but perhaps I should start asking more of the difficult questions ones that can suck the joy away. I only hope the answers are honest, and that I can stand them.

Cyborg: Damn. We couldn't do anything, and that hurts worse than losing. BB is hurt and he's losing so much blood. We can't lose BB not just because he is valuable to the team, he's the one who is almost the life of the team. He's like a little brother to me, they're all like my family now. If Black Glass comes and waltz's in the street I might just make road kill out of her. Who on earth would try and kill BB? He made me join the team because I felt normal with him around, another rookie in this world. I know its dangerous, but doesn't being on a team mean that we watch one another's backs? I'm sorry BB I didn't watch your back tonight.

Raven: Beast Boy you idiot. What on earth made that girl hate you so much? I know how selfish this is but you, Starfire, Cyborg and Robin are idiots for doing this. I want you all covering me but I can't lose what's left of my family. All of you are my friends and family wrapped up in a complicated legal clause saying that you will annoy, pester, and be the best people I know. So don't die Beast Boy. If one of us goes then all of us put together can't replace them in the slightest.

Beast Boy: Pain. Its so painful that I can't feel it anymore. Am I even alive? Well there's my breath so… ouch, I know that girl didn't like me but **ouch**, what is this? …Its not mine but….That piece of glass? I can't... I can't tell... what it is... sorry... mph... sleepy.

Starfire and Raven flew Beast Boy to the infirmary hoping that he would be alright. Robin however stalked up to the nearest computer terminal with Cyborg close on his heels.

"Man, what was that? That girl beat us up, BADLY. I don't know what would have happened if-" Cyborgs increasing tempo and volume was stopped by Robin's timely interruption.

"Cyborg, do you mind linking up to the computers so we have an idea of what we're up against?" Robin's request was logical but his voice betrayed the seething anger that was just below the surface of his forced calm. He would break apart this Black Glass piece by piece to bring justice back into their perception of reality, starting with a computer image and late nights picking apart loose data. Cyborg knew that this was the first step to getting Her off the streets.

"Sure Rob, but I haven't matched anything up with my scanners. Hopefully you'll see something the machines can't," Cyborg left the real meaning behind the words hang in the air. I'm counting on you. Don't let this be a waste. He turned to leave Robin to his own devices when Starfire and Raven entered the room. They had left the recovering Beast Boy to the infirmary room's quiet and decided to look in on what the damage was below.

Starfire entered the conversation just as it was about to end, "Raven &amp; I are not hurt too badly, but Robin you must go and treat your wounds or else they will fester and sicken you."

It was Raven who guessed and answered the question that had been bugging them, "Beast Boy is doing OK. Now it's the two of you that need to be fixed."

"Two?" Cyborg was confused on this point.

"Yes, you are bleeding most horridly from the head Cyborg, and Robin your leg is bleeding badly." Starfire said hurriedly trying to force them to sit down without hurting them.

Present Time.

"Robin? Dude?" Beast Boy walked in to the room and sat down on the bench press that Cyborg or Starfire usually commandeered.

"Beast Boy?" Robin squinted in the half light.

"Yup. By the way Rob?" Beast Boy's dark green skin looked healthy-well as healthy as green skin can look.

"Yes?"Robin wondered what could have gotten Beast Boy _the latest sleeper_ up at this hour.

"Go to bed."

*This is my first Fan fiction, what ever your thoughts are please review. Oh! Most of the story will be told via dreams, flash backs and news reports.*


	2. A Mare of the Night

**Chapter 2**

The clock face read 4:49am. Silkie noisily dreamed of eating -well whatever Starfire gave him. However the proud alien girl was not having as good a night as her pet. Starfire tossed and turned in her sleep moaning. She relived events that only a superhero would endure, because that would be the only way it would ever occur. Whimpering out pitiful phrases in her sleep. "Please, why? Why do you do this? Tell me why you wear both a scar and a mask."

Dreams from 4:18 to 5:15

The town's beach was deserted even in June where parties raged until midnight, the DJ's pay well over the written agreement. Terror had filled the town with the threat being like a firefly, a clear, bright one that burned an innocent flower. Flickering here, there and anywhere it chose before disappearing without shedding the slightest light on the situation except a charred corpse of the unfortunate flower. The moon was now slightly fuller and reflected on the water's uncontrolled surface, as well as the lasers that Cyborg shot through the night. A plethora of broken bottles and sea glass responded to this in kind.

The beach was a war zone, dunes were the newest trenches, tables a shield, and no one would want the higher ground in this scenario, it only meant ground zero. The Titans unsure footing was both a blessing and a curse. Robin's bat-a-rang had no target and there was no chance use hand to hand combat. Cyborg's long distance couldn't be used strategically as it created more glass with the heat it caused. However it also forced Black Glass to use her powers to keep herself aloft, thus meaning her concentration was divided. Both Raven and Starfire found out that a head on attack was next to useless, every shard of glass was individually controlled to make sure one of them found its target in a hailstorm of glass.

Cyborg and Robin attempted to combine their attacks with Starfire and Raven, to make it more potent. With no chance to find techniques that would work on other villians they resorted to distractions in the hope that it would help. Surprisingly distractions in the form of loud noises worked best, although insults were not even graced with a reply. Starfire and Raven's attacks did more work than last time. Without an ambush the two formed a formidable team against the new villain. Getting behind her was a useful tactic, until Cyborg nearly lost his 'normal' eye to a well aimed broken bottle. From there on in training took over.

The waves pounded on the surf, reminding the whole crew that if Beast Boy was there, he would have taken an aquatic form and surprised her. Such thoughts though were dangerous on the battlefield, any thought for that matter was dangerous if it wasn't on the fight. If they had thought about it, what happened next wouldn't have happened at all. Robin had brought out his staff to block the individual shards, not thinking to look at the sand his feet were on.

The sand had concealed a harpoon made of frightening sharp glass that shot out of the sand and into the space that Robin was occupying. As it came up it fragmented into many pieces in an arc of shimmering, pointed spikes. A fragile if dangerous, &amp; even deadly thing indeed. Cyborg grabbed him from behind and made sure that the masked leader did not obtain a punctured lung, courtesy of Black Glass. Aerial combat was their only hope for now or all their efforts would be in vain.

Raven was about to shield everyone for a group meeting when Starfire dashed out of the circle to face her enemy. They stayed above the battlefield briefly evaluating each other before they clashed. Starfire made a reckless attempt to stop the fighting with words, "Why do you do this? Can we not talk and heal these ill feelings between us? Is there no way to live life without regrets, or living in a mask." To her credit it enticed the other teen to speak for the first time, " I find it ironic that you speak of living in a mask, when that is exactly what your boyfriend does. As for the rest we are enemies by affiliation oh heroic alien," the voice was cold, bitter and clear in her meaning- they never would or could be friends.

Stunned, Starfire felt like she was slapped in the face with those words. Her hands may contain the will of justice but her heart was wounded at the girls words. Grinding against her moral codes, the cruel child was resolute in her will that this should be the way. Enraged, Starfire's star-bolts burned a emerald green as she slashed at the younger girl her green eyes blazing angrily at the insult to Robin. Black Glass however kept her temperament cool and fought back using all of her assets, but did not use green sea glass as a weapon. Regardless of the attempt at peace the two were soon locked in battle, too close for any others to attempt physical intervention.

"Star! Come on! Robin, and everyone, including you, is hurt!" Cyborg waved her down from the battle. Blood encrusted the nearby sand, Robin's wounds were more grievous than had first appeared. Starfire was forced to leave the battle by the overwhelming need to protect her friends. Her cheeks burned with shame for fighting like that-for not helping her friends and others but selfishly trying to prove a point, it was unforgivable. In the immortal words of Raven, "My power is fueled, controlled by and inseparable from my emotions. If I am out of control, then it is out of control, and that's when others get hurt." The night's pounding waves chased the Titans down the shore for disturbing the night's peace and quiet with fighting.

There were two who wished the battle had reached a more satisfying conclusion even while having entirely different reasons for doing so. "I want to understand what happened for this to be true. To know why I am ignorant in something that should have nothing to do with cultures. Though my people have often wondered why other's carried grudges. At least we could guess the cause in our own world, here it is stranger than a 'man in the moon'. What a strange thought that is." Starfire's thoughts hummed unspoken in the cool night's air. The window down with her head outside it like a dog that disliked being away from what was home, she looked up at the moon and for a second she understood why an asteroid that was trapped by the Earth's gravitational pull was said to resemble something living. It was because people needed a thing to talk to when the dark night closed in and they didn't feel safe in the slightest -a legend, in a way, could be a superhero that died long ago but left their mark on the world.

The villain, too, fled. While often being on the offensive, the Titans had landed many attacks that would make a longer battle unwise."She distracted me, I wanted to be rid of Cyborg or Robin tonight. Instead, she attempted to make peace. Aliens should know by now, human's at their best are hard to treaty with and I am not anywhere near that." Black Glass's cunning mind was in overdrive attempting to decipher the meaning behind Starfire's actions, as well as laying a new trap for the Titans destruction. One that would counter in another night's work and an unwavering resolve that, if it could take a form, would have been a cloud brimming with lightning and drowning in thunder.

The Titans stood in the infirmary keeping vigil for yet a second night over a new team mate this time. The sadness tried to obtain a hold but on Starfire it could not. Rather, disappointment in herself consumed her thoughts leaving her spacing out on the team leaving her and Robin alone. Beast Boy had been moved to the couch, where the toxic fumes of his room could not reach him. The team could at least talk to the newest patient this time. As she was his girlfriend, Starfire was granted the first time alone they had gotten for almost 3 days now, the days since Black Glass' coming. Only silence filled the room hanging like an oppressive air between the two.

It was ironic that it was not Starfire who said the comforting words, but Robin propping himself up on some pillows. "Is there something she said Starfire? If so, then I don't know what it is. I can't lip read." Starfire gave a small smile at Robin's initiative. Knowing him, he would have questioned any one of the Titans except her mercilessly. "Yes, she cruelly said that you live in your mask, and that her quarrel was with not me but another and was taking her anger out on me as we battled. Oh yes! She spoke without an accent of any planet or language I know of...Robin, how is it one can get a scar like that? I have never seen anything that is like it or would cause it on your planet, but she called me an alien which she would not if she was from another planet." Robin paused before answering, "The only thing that can give a scar like that is an iron, red-hot, straight from the fire," he sighed. "It's sick to even think of torture being used in any scenario."

"So it is not used by the police or government workers?" Starfire's hopeful eyes glanced back up at him. "It's no where near legal to torture any one, the only one who would do that is a villain with no ethics." Robin seemed to sense her other question and took off his mask to kiss her. When his mask came off, however, there were only two ugly red sores in his face where his eyes and eyelids-

5:16- The Titan Tower.

If tested, the scream in the Titan Tower that night would most likely have been enough to wake the dead.

Silkie and Raven jumped at the noise. Due to distance, by the time Raven had got there, Starfire was only mildly shaking with Silkie in her arms and whispering a reassuring "Your knorfka is here."

Raven touched the ground and sighed. Walking over to Starfire's bed and sitting down, closing the door with her powers, she carefully looked over the trembling red head.

"Bad dream huh?" Raven's quiet voice broke the silence that only turned awkward when her way with words failed the both of them entirely. Starfire merely continued stroking Silkie.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" The forced words caused Starfire to look up quickly, tears in her eyes. Raven however waved any questions down. Before she could look down to Silkie again though, a stare that was pure Raven forced the words from her mouth.

"I had a mare of the night," Starfire began.

*I hope you liked it...I wasn't too happy about Raven's speech patterns last time, I feel a tiny bit better about it this time. I hope you like the real-time bits and pieces coming from different perspectives. There are so many things the show did and did not address. Please review! It will let me know that I am doing this right, and that you are satisfied.*


	3. Digital Dreaming

**Chapter 3**

In the Titan Tower the half-man reviewed the events of the past few days unconsciously. The downloads he had prepared uploaded themselves within minutes so that he could try and match up what did and didn't make sense. The information teased him as it disappeared like a shadow inside the system, a game of hide and seek that wasn't wanted. It went like this for hours and would continue until he was woken up by his alarm.

Jumpstart News Station on Tuesday morning:

"The damage of last Monday night was felt this morning as confused shop owners, Miranda and Maurice woke up to find their window display in tatters. The glass broken from the inside out, the authorities in the area suspected that the owners had done it themselves, until not 5 minutes later another store reported the same incident had occurred in their shop. A string of burglaries had happened all along the south end of town. Law enforcement had not heard a sound during the night but, finally some suspects were caught. However, even the Gray Dogs couldn't have committed all of these crimes as the number of stores robbed turned out to be a shocking 17. The questioning in this incident revealed a startling realization." Here the anchor paused for a moment from the lack of breath or the words to come next from her scripted speech no one would now.

"The Teen Titans, often referred to as heroes, were in a 5 block vicinity of the crimes, yet did nothing. The villain Mumbo Jumbo was caught one hour before the robberies have been predicted to have occur." The news woman now looked away from the script she had and said the following words, "They seem to be able to catch crooked &amp; deluded magicians with ease and yet the city suffers from real crooks on the same night, crooks that caused far more damage." The look on her face and tone of her voice suggested which one should be locked up right now. "For everyone's sake, and their own reputation, this villain had better be caught. And now, onto the gossip section. What exactly is going on between Starfire and Robin?"

"We get a bad rep on top of a bad guy. We can't catch a break!" Cyborg gripped while looking for other more reliable resources.

Robin's Report Day 1:

The samples of glass taken from the graffiti on the wall are entirely normal glass with no trace of being tampered with chemically. The surrounding area tested negative for radiation. None of the residents fit the description or had seen a girl with blond hair, green eyes, and pale skin around the neighborhood. All tested clean for drugs or any other mutation causing chemical. Searches in the police data base and Brotherhood of Evil were negative.

There was no birth certificate in the nearby hospitals or any orphanage that fit the age requirements. This looks to be an unusual case. Our tactics weren't useful because Black Glass had ambushed us. That needs working on. Until we know what her power's are we can't devise a strategy to lure her out of whatever rat hole she's hiding in. The only definite information we have on her is rough and sketchy. We need to know more, and I expect that this won't be the last time we see her judging by her message.

"Rob's right, but he doesn't know anything." Cyborg thought irritably knowing that a machine at least trusted his best friend to be reliable.

DJ Richie's Blog:

Yeah, so you know that sweet gig that was down by the beach? It got crashed by this crazy chick who floated mid air like it was nothing, and went all schitzo on everyone. wore this phantom of the opera mask, and it showed this tattoo ya know, of one of those cult religion things. So yeah. Man, though all she had to do was blow one thing up to get people screaming. Course she didn't take my tips, thank the gods of rock. But ya know I could have made some business that night. If the little b**** hadn't gone and made the whole place explode. Honestly if someone wanted a jail cell THAT badly all they had to do is f-

"Never mind." Cyborg didn't waste another moment on it.

Jumpstart News Station on Thursday morning.

"The villain we now know as Black Glass has declared a vendetta on the Teen Titans and all of their affiliates. She has sent us a message with all of these attacks until the Titans go down others, will be paying for it. Though no blood has been shed, it is obvious that she will not stop until the Titans die. The attack last night on the beach reinforced this message." The red-headed anchor drank some water between sentences and then continued. "The strength of the villain Black Glass is currently unknown, but based on the display on the beach last night, we can all agree that the threat is real. Where are the heroes that we know? The kind that kept the street clean of riffraff and took out the bad guy in one punch. We want our heroes back, our champions."

"I don't know which is worse-getting our names trashed or people acting like we're God." Cyborg's head would have been banging against the wall if he weren't asleep at the time.

Memory File 37489: Tuesday Night in The City

The movie theater, number 2, at 6:30 pm. "What on Earth does she have against Deep Waters 2 anyway? It's a great movie." He thought this as the glass shards shot out from behind the projecting booth. Robin shouted, "Cyborg, keep the citizens out and her in!" "Working on it." Cyborg grunted. Uprooting a 7th row seat, he threw it at the doors, forcing them shut and trapping all of them in the room until the battle was over. Everyone began to hurl everything they had at her one after another. It looked as though they might win this one, Starfire and Raven kept flying lower to the ground than usual to avoid the ceiling.

Three surprises happened to the Titans that night.1) They found out that Black Glass wasn't simply a psychotic, powered-up, lazy girl but physically capable too 2) They found out Raven wasn't always graceful, particularly if a girl jumped off some seats in a theater and used her as a springboard 3) A laser blasted hole in the ceiling was just as good to escape using as a laser-blasted hole in the wall to a villain that didn't want to be inside. It took less time however to escape using the same hole with Starfire and Raven's help.

The battle consisted of many roof-tops with large gaps, but in terms of a fight equal ground. The girl could run, but the Titans could fly faster. The shattering of glass had slowed down as she sped up. Robin used his grappling hook and landed in front of her, Cyborg took the rear, Raven and Starfire flanked her. 'You're surrounded Black Glass!" Robin shouted into the night air. "Booyah!" shouted Cyborg as he pumped the air with his fist. Black Glass however looked around casually and with a small smile, shook her head.

All around her was a coffin of glass, that one moment was stable, the next it would make the Titans history if they didn't preform some fancy foot work fast. Black Glass for her part jumped down from the ten story building into the city below. No one was hurt this time or deliberately singled out for a injury, however the morale was still low. They didn't catch her, she outmaneuver them every step of the way, and thanks to the fact that she used telepathy, she knew all of their moves before they were put into place.

Memory File 37490: Tuesday Night at the Tower

"Hey,dudes what's up?" Beast Boys cheerful manner couldn't be stopped, even if he wasn't allowed out for another 3 days. The looks from the team did, however, put a bit of a dent in his game playing happiness. "What's wrong? I'm still inside the tower, but _Raven_ wouldn't let me play games in the infirmary so I **had** to play them out here." his cheerfulness showed only his ignorance in the crestfallen Titans. This annoyed Beast Boy, just because he was younger than the others and roughed up a little did not mean that he didn't think about things. Aside from Robin, he was one of the oldest ones in this business.

"I listened in on the communicators." Beast Boy's confession made the Titans glance up startled. He continued,"Just because I'm out of the action doesn't mean I want to be out on the action. Tell me how you kicked butt." Starfire looked up and then flew over to her teammate, hugging him as he turned into a purring house cat. "Joy that you can still joke Beast Boy. Before we discuss the kicking of butt however, let me get the corn that is popped and the cotton candy." The rest of the team now managed grins, and movie night continued without the guilt of Beast Boy being left out.

Later that night Beast Boy was sent to the infirmary, Cyborg intercepted him on the way. After looking left and right quickly he thrust five games, twelve movies, and a monitor in his arms. Beast Boy was grinning broadly but confused at the monitor. Cyborg mouthed, "To see larger than the communicator's screen." "Oh." Mouthed Beast Boy back with a thumbs up he deposited the pile underneath the bunk where Robin and the others wouldn't see it.

Memory File 37495.5: Thursday Morning at the Tower

Cyborg woke up with a groan and went down stairs, he meet Beast Boy and the decided to play a game.

"Your gonna lose dude." said Beast Boy with a grin.

"Bring it on, BB!"The two male Titans were locked in virtual combat, a dangerously addicting pass time. Beast Boy was close to being completely recovered from Monday's incident and Cyborg needed something to take his mind off things. The racing game was at the highest setting that could possibly be set, meaning one miscalculated turn could be the end of you. The game went far beyond the screen as the two elbowed for the best position to see the entire screen.

"How can the two of you be playing Monkey-Racers 212 when Robin is injured?!" Starfire accused them. The boys looked back guiltily. Cyborg however motioned BB down when he tried to speak up. "Rob understands that we can't do anything besides give him some peace and 're far enough away from the room. Besides, Star, we need to take our mind off things or we'll go crazy." Cyborg made sure Starfire understood the last part. She flopped down on the couch staring at the ceiling. With a groan she began to watch.

The two boys didn't want an audience and a plan was concocted. When it was suggested that she make a dish from her homeland, she happily agreed to it. Yes, they would drink her homeland's special healing tea. No, it might not be a good idea if Robin drank some, delicate digestive system and all. Raven promptly declined in favor of getting some groceries, "When Starfire cooks,there are 3 options; the house burns down, the fridge is emptied, or the rest of us vomit uncontrollably from exposure. I'll skip."

*I hope you don't mind it being scattered about. Cyborg's brain IS a supercomputer though so I though this might work better than a dream sequence or flash back for him. He speaks normally so most people forget. Please tell me your thoughts on it via review. I think we all needed a lighter chapter, the rest gets dark.*


	4. Meow

**Chapter 4**

Saturday was anything but the opportune time to get groceries. Pushing through the mass of people, Raven overheard a pair of women talking to one anther in the checkout aisle. Their conversation was barely in hearing range, yet she was forced to endure the gossip that was passed. "Did you hear, Rebecca, about the Titans," said a brunette. "East or our Titans?" the blonde asked boredly. "East of course, they were kidnapped after all. Our Titans couldn't do anything but they've tried to contact the one holding them hostage right now. I always feel bad about those kids. Risking their lives-" The two drifted out of hearing range, but Raven winced none the less. It was a sore topic in the tower and she remembered what had happened perfectly.

Flash/Back

The Titans had been having trouble, but that wouldn't stop the Forth of July party they had been planning for weeks. Every honorary Titan that could be spared came to Jump city to eat watermelon, watch fireworks and catch up. The line to get in for civilians was long, but outside the tower all the vehicles that marked who was coming was a sight in itself to see. The roof was marked off limits until the time was ripe for launching the rockets off. The tower was packed, the best view in the city on top of the celebrities, making it a hot destination for anyone who could manage to squeeze their way in.

The night was also ripe for mischief as the Titans would find out at 9:30 pm exact. The launch time for fire works was 9:00 and bets were being placed on who designed what, and the show's finale which had been the source of speculation for weeks now before the Black Glass incidents. Innocent flirtation and practical jokes went hand in hand throughout the night until the world held its breath as Hot Spot lit the fuses. Ooh's, and Ah's filled the night as the parade of flashing lights filled the sky, while in the same moment many Titans in the control room fell into a deep sleep. A teen walked in and looked on the monitors until she saw what she wanted.

The crowd watched in disbelief as the American flag seemed to swirl proudly in the air forming in an act of vanity a large T that eclipsed the moon. It took them many moments to realize that they were standing in darkness and could not move without encountering many shards of glass that plunged themselves into many shoes cutting through to the feet that were encased in it. The crying of young children was quickly replaced by shrill screams of terror. Citizens were rescued quickly and evacuated to the main land while being carefully searched for the defining scar that would have marked any face. The Titans themselves took over this job as the Titans East, Hot Spot, and Wildebeest searched inside for Black Glass.

Hearing a voice of a young child cry out, Wildebeest separated from the group to find the child that had been left behind. Hot Spot looked over the island's shore to see if the villain had hidden in the many cracks and crevices. The Titans East found only a message left in shimmering black glass that glimmered just as brightly as the fireworks.

It you want to find me, then come &amp; chase me as you never do,

And I will tell you the news, and maybe I'll give you some clues.

I might hide in plain sight.

In the place dark &amp; light.

If you're too afraid to call,

It's your own downfall.

So Come one, Come all,

To The Ride of Midnight.

Have a message for you,

The words might be help,

And it's fear you've felt.

Titanic forces this night.

The Titans East began decoding it until they reached an answer that did not bode well. She would wait until midnight and the leave the amusement park near the pier designated for demolition. It was now 9:30 and they left a message. "We've gone to catch Black Glass. Count on the streets being clear of her.~ Titans East. They raced across the city in their hovercraft, hoping that they had accurately interpreted the message. The rides that were obvious they ignored, instead looking for anything that would be obviously not a part of the criteria they had deciphered.

The did not hear the footsteps behind them nor the glass shattering, as that was many steps behind them. Finally, they found the last ride in the park matched all of the criteria. It had the words matching the key ones in the clue. They entered warily, trying to gauge how far they had gone in before they became immersed in the mix matched patterns of light and dark, unable to find the exit to this rundown ride. Finally, they entered the main staging area for the ride where the carts had been towed away long ago.

It was Speedy who turned around at a sound the others had been too slow to follow. He was on the ground, bow string cut, and a shard of glass at his throat. After that the communicators went to static. By the time the original Teen Titans had gotten there, none of the Titans East were there. The battle couldn't be told face to face but the outcome was obvious. Instead, through forensic analysis, they determined what happened. The results were stunning in either effect.

The cut bow string indicated which one was the first to go down, next surprisingly was Mas e Minos' tracks abruptly ending half way across the room. Bee and Aqualad went down last, she had her stinger's marks all over the wall, Aqualad had been told to warn the others. His hesitation proved his undoing, Black Glass had managed to get Aqualad electrocuted by going between him and Bumble Bee-then just before impact, jumped out of the way. By this time, Bee put up little resistance to capture. As her team had already been captured, there wouldn't have been any way that she could go for help without endangering them.

Guilt bogged the team down that night.

Robin blamed himself for letting the other Titans go without fully warning them about her powers and abilities.

Cyborg was silently wondering what he could have done differently that wouldn't have placed them in danger as he had known all of them personally and helped to build their tower.

Starfire wondered what her friends' fates were as they did not know whether Black Glass had abducted them or, when captured, would face the charge of premeditated murder.

Raven was quiet. She didn't know all of them on such a level as she did her team. That did not excuse the fact that she didn't help with the ferrying of people of the tower's island. If she had been at the park, things might have gone differently.

Beast Boy sat in the T-car thinking, an odd pastime for him. It was his first night out since the Black Glass incident he was involved in, but somehow he didn't think that they had been murdered. "If it had been us, maybe, but not them." Was his last thought before drifting off to sleep.

The Titans piled out of their car and into their rooms for the night. Late that night Robin paced, Beast Boy pacified, Cyborg reviewed information and Starfire had a dream turned nightmare. Raven couldn't stand the tension and traveled into her mirror to regain peace of mind. Her well ordered mind was filled with clutter she set to disposing of. However, within the piles of junk that destroyed her inner peace, threatening to capsize her world with its shear mass, something moved. She stood, preparing for the worst. Her emotions came to her to help her, boosting her powers in an instant.

A cat jumped out meowing. Raven calmed herself and examined it closer. The cat seemed to dislike being looked at if it couldn't show off . Climbed a tree, it scared away the ravens that nested there in the coming of Raven's anger personified. Meowing again, it settled calmly on the branch it had chosen, looking down with big eyes. The cat was black enough to put shadows to shame, with pink paws, scruffy fur, bright green eyes and a quirky tail dancing back and forth. Raven put her worries that had piled up inside away, looking at the mysterious animal. She quickly checked her animal form and as always it was a raven, she opened her eyes wondering what this stray was doing in her mind.

"Here kitty, kitty." The words still made her suffer from the embarrassment of learning it from Cyborg and Beast Boy. The cat ignored her and began licking its paws. Raven wondered how it had gotten in, but decided to leave it be in favor of getting things in order. The cat's pitiful meow brought her back to the clearing, faintly annoyed. She flew up to the branch wondering what this black burr had to do with the chaoticness in her mind. "Can't you do anything useful?" She demanded of it.

Irked, the cat quickly and gracefully lept down from the branch, landing by a small rock. It motioned to the clutter with a paw and sifted it between recyclables and non-recyclables. Raven stared at the cat for a moment before squatting down to pet it. It purred until Raven left the mirror. "Let stray thoughts find their own places," she decided. "I don't need a pet." Relaxing, she got into bed she reconsidered. Becoming guilty about such thoughts, as an empath, she decided that the cat could stay **if** it chose to abide by her rules when it was there.

Raven had been in a decidedly good dream, when a sound made her mind shake as though in an earthquake Jump City was famous for.

Current time

She checked out of the store in a hurry, racing against the clock to finish the day's shopping without seeing Starfire or anyone else in the tower to greet her. Passing by a group of teenagers with what appeared to be a pink haired girl glaring at a red-headed boy, she felt a small pang. She knew that the Titan Tower was her home and that she wouldn't trade it for a false 'normalcy'. It wouldn't hurt looking at the people on July 5th after the fireworks, if it weren't for what Malcoir had told her in detail all that time ago-how the first fireworks were made with magic and powder.

Then she smiled sadly at her reflection in the window. Was Malcoir dead? No. Sealed, because he was an evil dragon that betrayed her? Yes! Her smile became stronger. Yes. He would no longer hurt her, or anyone else, most likely suffering from the other spell she had put on the book that now entombs him. She could take that, though her eyes became cold and her smile fell. She would not enjoy doing that anymore. Punishment is as punishment does, Robin had decided. She had carried it ou. The moment she enjoyed doing that sort of thing, was the moment she began to lose against her own darkness. Scowling, she walked home, where other things could occupy her mind and the darkness in it-like finding where Black Glass had spirited the Titans East off to.

Deep inside the maze of her mind, a small cat, barely more than a kitten really, meowed forlornly.

*The cat is important, but you won't know why until later. Please tell me if you think it is distracting. I tend to not be able to state things mysteriously without giving the game away. I'm sorry for not updating recently, my editor has been getting lazier than my teachers.*


	5. Layered Mysteries

**Chapter 5**

Speedy woke up to the sounds of feet quickly moving across the floor. He listened for a while without opening his eyes or changing his breathing pattern, like he was trained to do. A girl was muttering under her breath- not Bee, he would have recognized her voice immediately, this was a stranger. To his surprise he heard Bee's, Aqualad's and the stranger's voices carrying a conversation. He opened his eyes to survey the scene around him.

Aqualad was begging on his hands and knees for something, their voices were indistinct. Bee was trying to get noticed by the girl, holding out a list of things in one hand shaking it up and down. The girl who she was trying to communicate with had her arms crossed and was impatiently tapping her foot. Getting up slowly he saw that the girl was wearing a black jacket too big for her, combat boots, and skinny black jeans. Her favorite color was obvious to any onlooker. She turned to him, her face covered by a white half-mask and it all came back to him in a rush.

Flash/Back

"All of you have marked a level of stupidity, that I didn't even know _existed_ until now." A girl on his chest would have sparked a lot of inappropriate thoughts in a teenage boy. If that same girl wasn't holding a knife to his throat it would be great. The team had frozen in place after her dialogue, seeing Speedy's situation Mas y Menos attempted to rush to his aid. The girl got off Speedy, leaving a collar of razor sharp glass at his throat that connected to the ground in order to face the twin superheroes. The move used was simple and effective, drop down and trip the two up, separate them: one in each hand, and imprison them in glass collars against the walls.

It wouldn't work twice, but it worked for the moment. Next she turned to face Aqualad and Bumble Bee. She raced toward them with long strides staying close to the ground the whole time gathering the glass around her. Bumble Bee kicked her self to start her wings and powered up her Stingers. Aqualad began to call the incoming tide to reach higher than it usually did.

"Go get help!" shouted Bee to Aqualad, "I'll hold her off!" He hesitated, his body rebelling against the idea of abandoning the team with most of them incapable of fighting. The blonde girl's swift kick brought him back to reality. Black Glass was hopping around the enclosure darting here and there, tormenting Bumble Bee into one of her infamous rages. She preformed a back flip in between Aqualad and Bee, in her rage, only saw the villain's cold smile.

By this point the water had reached ankle length, making the electricity all the more deadly. Aqualad fell electrocuted at the hands of his leader, his world going black. Bumble Bee neatly dropped her weapons in the water when she realized what she had done. Bee put up no resistance now and was quickly put in a choking collar that allowed their leader merciful darkness.

Speedy was sputtering on the ground his collar nearly drowning him at this point. Black Glass looked over the situation objectively without feeling. She had captured the Titans East in one go, not bad but not the originals. Restrainst were needed regardless of who they were. The rest of the Titans East received the same treatment that their leader had, going from last to first fought. "What do you gain from this? We'll break out anyway," Speedy childishly provoked her. "Be quiet," she commanded. First Speedy lifted him out of the water by his collar, then the pressure built until he passed out. His eyes first developed spots that faded into inky blackness.

Present Time

"What? You want something too?" the girl's tone suggested that he had better make it quick or else. He felt his neck, no collar only bruises to show he had been in captivity. He straightened out seeing Bee and Aqualad nearby. He ran to join them in an attempted rush attack, running into the glass walls that surrounded him on all sides. The contempt in her gaze showed more than any words could say. Rubbing his head he looked up at his teammates whom chose at that exact moment to do something that would make it impossible to tell if they were laughing. "Whats on the list?" he said grouchily getting to his feet.

"Read it yourself." she said tossing it to him. The paper slid through a mail slot that he would have sworn wasn't there before. Quickly glancing over it, mouthing the words as he did so, at one part he quickly looked up at Bee. "There should have been a warning for feminine things." said Speedy with a glare. "Just tell me what kind to get." the blonde said bored, unconcerned if the comfort level in the room dropped alarmingly.

"Mas!"

"Menos!"

"Hit the glass!" cried out the blonde her face the most expressionless of the group at that moment. The two had raced up to each other and repeated Speedy's blunder. Her patience was next to nothing at the best of times if the fight had indicated nothing else. This was obviously not one of those times. Speedy pushed the paper back through the shoot that sealed itself up the moment it was through.

She walked out the doors of-"Where is here exactly?" Speedy thought, unable to communicate with the others as the room was too warm for him to breath on the glass. He tried to think rationally. He decided on waiting, a task that while considered fundamental to learn in his training with Green Arrow, it was the one that he despised more than Bumble Bee's constant nagging.

After about 15 minutes of that he pulled himself up with his feet impatiently inspecting the walls of this prison. Cross legged, he observed the world around him. No furniture, not a surprise. He noted that the glass had other tints to it than black, but in such small degrees you wouldn't notice it in a fight.

What had he noticed in the fight anyways? It hadn't been much of a fight, that was for sure. She didn't purposefully choose things that would naturally put them at a disadvantage. Aqualad near water? What better way to lose a fight, she hadn't though, and that was puzzling. Why take out him first, then Mas e Menos? Wouldn't you want to go for the lead- wait, aside from Mas e Menos he was the fastest on the team. If she didn't have time to both shield herself and attack then the fight would've turned out differently. Maybe they could have gotten back up or even lock her up.

"She can't have much of a grudge", Speedy thought, "or maybe she is competing with Jinx on an IQ level." The implications of the strategies in this situation was startling to say the least. Why didn't she attack the leader? That would make the regular Teen Titans fall apart. Unless she knew that they hadn't been a team as long as the originals, but were still good, implicating that they had training as separate heroes. "This chick is a lot smarter, faster, and more ruthless than they told us about on the files," he frowned at the thought. Files were good but- his concentration broke after 2 hours had passed of analyzing her fighting style, coming up with next to nothing.

"Brought you your junk!" called out the girl from a door way of sorts. Behind her was a mountain of items that included most of the furniture from the tower. Wait. What was she doing with all of their stuff? Aside from their electronics, the tower must be stripped bare. There was their beds, their-no their couch wasn't included, bookshelf, books, Aqualad's aquarium? Dimly he recalled Aqualad pleading on the floor like a nun. Well, 'Black Glass save my fishies' was right up his alley.

From the looks from the rest of the team, they hadn't expected this either. Their items were dropped unceremoniously in each of their cells. Mas e Meno's bunk bed was becoming a problem, until finally Black Glass split it in two and took the liberty of dropping it upside down in their containers for good measure. Now in a thoroughly bad mood she turned to Speedy. His items were in danger of breaking unless he did some fast talking.

"So how did you break into base?" He said the first thing that came to mind, the idiot. "Same way you break into anywhere, get a lock pick or Gizmo and start breaking stuff on the way out," was the blunt answer with a trace of suspicion. So the question had surprised her but not shocked her, interestingly.

"How do you get Gizmo?" Speedy remembered that the kid was more of a lone wolf than Hot Spot.

"Threaten to melt his systems or tell the police about his 'en-ter-tame-ment website'. Is this some sort of riddle game?" Black Glass barked out.

"Melt how?" Speedy wonder aloud accidentally. "Get a torch," she said bluntly.

_"__Barbaric,"_ he thought

"Why'd you sound that out?" Speedy asked.

"Never heard the word before," she said beginning to eye the door cautiously.

"Can't you read?" Speedy was sick and tired of-

"... I don't have to answer that."

-this? Wait! What did she just say?!

"You have to read, you left us notes!" Speedy was panicked now. This couldn't really be true, So OK not everyone can shoot a bow but people are taught to read in this country!

"Not English at least." she said, kicking some dirt around with her foot.

"What?!" His expression was a mix of horror, pity, and bafflement.

"I've been using Google translate." said the blonde, attempting to make a circle with the dirt at her feet.

"Then your name isn't Black Glass?" Speedy was desperate. Of course this explained why they got no readings on her in the network, but some form of normal had to exist.

"It is in your language, and wipe that stupid look off your face. I'm leaving," the villain said abruptly.

The girl turned around crisply. Using measured steps she left the area going through a door hidden in shadow before or was it? When the shadows moved back in a triangular pattern Speedy confirmed that it was indeed her signature black glass. He heard a knocking sound almost like a bell echo through out his cell. Almost like-morse code! He tapped out the pattern

.- .-. . / -.- - ..- / .- .-.. .-. .. -. ...

.. / .- - / ..-. .. -. .

-. - - -..

.- ... .- - / ... .- .-. .-. . -. . -.. / - - / -.- - ..-

... ... . / .-. ..- - / -. .-.. .- ... ... / .. -. - - / - -.- / - - ..- - ... -..- / .. ..-. / .. / ... ... .-. .. -. -.- / .. - / -.- .. .-.. .-.. ... / - .

\- ... .- - / .. ... / ... .. -.-. -.-

.- ... .- - / .. ... / ... ... . / -.. - .. -. -.

.. / .- -. .-. . . .-.-.- / .. / ..-. - ..- -. -.. / - ..- - / - ... .- - / ... ... . / -.. - . ... / -. - - / .-. . .- -.. / . -. -. .-.. .. ... ...

.- ... -.- ..-.. .- -. -.. / ... - .-

... ... . / .. ... / -. - - / ..-. .-. - - / .- - . .-. .. -.-. .- / .- -. -.. / ... .- ... / -... . . -. / ..- ... .. -. -. / -. - - -. .-.. . / - .-. .- -. ... .-.. .- - .

... ... . / - .-. . -. . -.. / ..- .-. / - - / ..- ... / .- / -... .. -

-.. - -. .-. - / .-.. . - / ... . .-. / -.- -. - .- / .- -... - ..- - / - ... .. ...

\- -.-

Translation:

are you alright (Speedy)

I am fine (Bee, Speedy, M e M)

Good (Speedy, M e M)

What happened to you (Speedy)

She put glass in my mouth, if I shrink it kills me (Bee)

that is sick (Aqualad)

I agree. I found out she does not read English (Speedy)

Why and how (Bee, Aqualad, M e M)

She has been using Google translate (Speedy)

She opened up to us a bit (Bee)

Don't let her know about this. (Aqualad)

OK (All)

The team idly cleaned up their cells, wondering when lights out would be declared by their jailer. It was impossible to leave for the moment. They were stuck there until a rescue team could be launched or they managed to escaped. Probably the latter, how embarrassing would it be to say that the Titans East had to rely on the Teen Titans to break out of a illiterate girl's hideout? For now though there was hope, in the form of many quiet taps on glass. The only thing that would get them out of here was themselves by using critical analysis.

*I found a Morse translator online. I hope this is ok. You can use contractions in Morse but it takes up a lot of space. I've also stopped doing a lot of flash backs... for now. We'll see what happens next. I swear that I will update faster!*


	6. New to This

**Chapter 6**

"Sarcastic, irritable, blunt, heartless, dumb..." the list of words to describe the person known as Black Glass was growing in Bumble Bee's mind. She watched as the villain began speaking with the other members of her team, often leaving in the middle of a conversation looking bored. "Strange," Bumble Bee summarized. That summed up her actions from the Fourth of July until now. The younger girl had the air of being hardened by something, so much that she openly let the burns on her face show.

It was disturbing to look at, no matter what you may have been faced with it would always be strange to see someone disfigured if you weren't used to it. The girl felt Bumble Bee watching her and ended her discussion with Menos and Mas. There was now a small area that had holes to let the twins speak to one another. "Maybe heartless isn't right," Bumble Bee thought to her self as the blonde villain walked over.

Flash Back

"Dear God, what have I done," thought Bumble Bee as she saw one of her team members electrocuted in the water, with another dangerously close to being the same. The realization of what she had done freezing her in midair. The blonde tilted her head looking at the African-American girl with bug wings staring at the water horrified. A choker encircled Bumble Bee's neck, squeezing her until the world around her faded. The blonde still looked at the winged teen with a unusual expression on her face, sympathy.

Present Time

One of the walls fractured, separating until it could allow the blonde access before reassembling itself. The 'room' Bumble Bee was in resembled her own- without any technology or case files that usually littered the floor. The girl assembled a chair made out of glass with ease, and Bumble Bee was slightly impressed in spite of the situation. Control over your powers was a limited things for most people and yet a girl two or three years younger than her seemed to be more in control than many 'professionals' that she knew of.

"So...Any requests?" The green eyes were locked onto Bumble Bee's dark brown ones, eyes that revealed nothing in their cat like shape. The questioning tilt of the head made Bumble Bee hesitate before getting her nerve back. "What are the developments towards us being released?" Bumble Bee was all business now. "The ransom is still the same-1,000,000 American Dollars for your releases. So far I've been wondering if I should just sell Aqualad and Speedy to there fan-girl Armies. Probably could get a better deal." The blonde looked bored, even the half mask couldn't disguise that. "So far, how much has been donated?" "156,000 by the Titans, 80,000 by Wildebeest, Hot Spot, and Jericho combined, and unusual minerals of an undetermined monetary amount by Kole and Gnarrk, as well as Jericho's CD for you guys that is rising in value and popularity."

"She goes through this everyday," Bumble Bee thought, "I can't really blame her for not being interested. She may be getting the money, but we're the ones who care about it." Black Glass' eyes flicked up towards the other girl's face, clearly seeing something that required her undivided attention. The girl was short but strong, pulling Bumble Bee along at an alarming rate outside of the Glass Prison as the team had decided to call it.

Bumble Bee was dragged into a door she had never seen before that proved to be-the bathroom. She let go of Bumble Bee's arm and opened a cabinet full of Speedy's hair products and high quality facial supplies. She gave Bumble Bee a tube of acne cream and a facial mask. Bumble Bee looked in the mirror, she had a zit. Looking back at the younger girl already getting a towel wet, she burst out laughing.

Black Glass jumped at the sound peering at the older teen that was laughing uncontrollably with narrowed eyes. "Why...on Earth...are you...doing this?" she managed to force out. Black Glass responded after a slight hesitation that was marked unusual by the older girl. "The better you look the more I'll be able to extort from the Teen Titans," was the cool response. Bumble Bee chuckled, causing the villain to look at her suspiciously.

"I'm not used to thinking with other girls priorities in mind. Living with a bunch of boys will do that to you. I also didn't think you would go ahead and take this stuff. Living conditions with many villains are also pretty disgusting most of the time. They don't care whether or not their hostages smell or anything. If you don't mind me asking, are you new at this? You're so off the beat it hurts. Will you do a mask too?" Bumble Bee finished, despite herself, this girl was starting to grow on her.

The blonde turned away huffily squeezing the tube until enough of it poured out to about the size of a small apple in her hand. She put the tube closer to the winged hero before turning back to take off her half-mask and apply the green goo generously. Bumble Bee began to start her own beauty regimen, it had always included using some of Speedy's high quality products without his knowing. The hero was only allowed to look at the villain after the goo encompassed the majority of her face. Bumble Bee stifled a laugh, the blonde girl had covered her entire face with it-you could only see her eyes if you looked for the unusual glint.

Bumble Bee was looked over by the green faced girl with bemusement. She had neglected to apply her own mask yet. Beginning to dip her hands into the pool off goo, she applied her mask with a third of the amount that was used by Black Glass. "I have to think of a new name for her," Bumble Bee thought, "Black Glass just doesn't fit." Then she remembered what Speedy had said, that she couldn't read or write. Maybe she wasn't even an American. The world seemed to shift about ten inches to the left.

"Why on Earth did I not think of this before?" Bumble Bee scolded herself internally, "Of course if she is** not** American then it would be normal for her to not read or write. There might not be public education in the other country she's lived in." She watched the younger girl out of the corner of one eye sitting on one of the many sinks to doodle on the mirror.

"Hey? Can I call you something," Bumble Bee continued before she lost her nerve, "other than Black Glass or hey you, I mean."

"Sophia," said the blonde. "It's not one that my parents gave me, but you can call me Sophia. Don't ask why that, you won't get an answer."

"Given name?" Bumble Bee asked to clear her confusion.

"Yeah, they never got around to naming me before they dumped me in a nunnery in a foreign country because of my eyes. You know, demon child and all that," Black Glass' eyes were cold now as she said the words,"I hate religion. Starts giving the idea that a whole lot of bad apples to think that they can do anything in the name of religion. Like taking a five-year-old from a church to drown it after seeing the eyes were like a cat-that type of bad."

"Do you hate the Titans because they protect a country that's mostly Christian?" the words were out of Bumble Bee's mouth before she could stop them.

Black Glass looked amused at Bumble Bee's question, then laughed. "Mostly Christian is the key," she said before grabbing a wet towel and turning away from her captive. "If you're thinking that's why I hate the Titans, its not. What they've done is worse." She grabbed her mask from the counter. "You're one of them. So are the rest of them. Don't think that this-" she gestured to the facial supplies while drying her hair, "is any sort of indication that we are friends. You are simply a captive."

The mask was back with her burn clearly showing again. Bumble Bee had forgotten that she had it while they were doing masks. It changed her face entirely, making her look extremely cruel and dangerous. She was going out again, Bumble Bee knew that much for sure. Good bye other girl to share masks, gossip, and Speedy's facial products with. Back to being the team leader. Regardless of her ideas that she may not be so bad, Bee was still trapped in Black Glass' lair.

"I guess I wont be able to call her Sophia any more," she thought to herself. Black Glass left the captives alone now, leaving through the door that meant she would be going to fight the Teen Titans. Everyone had begun to get at least respectful of the little villain, simply because she took the time to speak to them better than most.

... - .- / -.. .. -.. / .. - / -. -

... - .. .-.. .-.. / -. - - / - ... . / -... . ... - / - ..-. / ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. ... -..- / .. / ..-. . . .-.. / -... .- -.. -..- / .. - / .. ... / .-.. .. -.- . / .- . / .- .-. . / -... . - .-. .- -.- .. -. -. / ... . .-. .-.-.-

... ... . / .-. ..- - / ..- ... / .. -. / -.-. .- -. . ...

\- .-. ..- .

.- -. -.- - ... .. -. -. / .- . / -.-. .- -. / ..- ... . / -... . .

-. .- - . / .- ... . -. / .. / .- ... -.- . -.. / ... ... . / ... .- .. -.. / - - / -.-. .- .-.. .-.. / ... . .-. / ... - .-. ... .. .- / .- ... / .- / -.-. .. ...- .. .-.. .. .- -.

-.. - . ... -. .-. - / .-. .. -. -. / .- / -... . .-.. .-..

.. ... -. .-. - / - ... .- - / .- -. / . -. -. .-.. .. ... ... / -. .- - .

.. .-. - / -. - .. -. -. / .- .. - ... / - -.- / .. -. ... - .. -. -.-. - ... / - -. / - ... .. ... / - -. . -..- / ... ... . .-. ... / -. - - / . -. -. .-.. .. ... ... .-.-.- / - ..- .-. / .-.. .- -. -. ..- .- -. . / -... - .-. .-. - .- ... / .- - .-. -.. ... / - ... - ..- -. ... .-.-.-

... - .- / .. ... / - ... . / . ... -.-. .- .-. . / .-. .-.. .- -. / -. - .. -. -. ..-..

\- .- ... / . / - . -. - ... / .- .-. . / .- .-.. - - ... - / - - ..- -.-. ... .. -. -. .-.-.-

-. - - -.. -..- / -. - .- / .- . .-. .-.. .-.. / ... .- ...- . / - ..- .-. / ... - .-. . -. -. - ... / ..- -. - .. .-.. / .-.. .- - . .-. .-.-.- / -. - / - - / -... . -..

Still not the best of friends, I feel bad, it is like we are betraying her

She put us in cages

True

Anything that we can use Bee

When I asked, she said to call her Sophia as a civilian name.

Doesn't ring a bell

Isn't that a English name

I'll trust my instincts on this one. She's not English. Our language borrows lots of words

How is the escape plan

Mas e Menos, almost touching

Good. now lets save our strength until later. Go to bed.

Bumble fell onto her sofa, it wasn't anyone else's, it hadn't been stolen from any store. Black Glass had gone through the trouble of breaking into the tower. "Used Gizmo's adult sites as a hostage," she remembered Speedy telling her with a smile. "Crafty of her," she thought of Gizmo panicking with the thought of his entire system melting along with the sites she hadn't known existed. Scratch that- she hadn't known they were operated by Gizmo, that they existed she knew very well from her undercover classes at Hive Academy.

Bumble Bee didn't dwell on her time as a double agent, it wasn't practical now that she was a leader. She thought for a moment however that it might have made her slightly more ready to listen to Black Glass than most. It didn't seem normal that this blonde girl really was trying to kill the Titans-maybe the Teen Titans, but not her specific branch. She wasn't willing to let them walk by without getting them to bleed a bit that was for sure, Mas e Menos got off lightly compared to the rest of them. She paused to rub a sore shoulder still wounded from the battle three days ago.

"Only three days ago?" she murmured. That's when it hit her, the short period of time. It wouldn't be logical for any villain to give their prisoner a name to call them **anything**. Much less a name that was almost normal. "That means Black Glass has a past where she would have trusted us, or-" she shivered at the thought, "we aren't going to leave. Ever. She'll take the money then kill us all."

*I hope you don't mind her being a little more human for a bit. It is all for story lines sake. Oh, I didn't skip Beast Boy, he's the next chapter. Review so I know I am doing this right! It makes the author sad when less and less people read the stories chapter by chapter. Reviews will fix it to the way you guys like it!


	7. Green Boy

**PLEASE READ THE LINE AFTER THIS BEFORE YOU START THE STORY!**

_italics__=in retrospect_

**Chapter 7**

Beast Boy laid down on his bunk bed thinking of what had happened. It had surprised all of them at the time, but Beast Boy had a feeling he shouldn't be surprised by the events. Which was saying something, as it was him who had gaped the most. Somewhere in his subconscious, though, he had a nagging thought that he shouldn't be surprised. It was almost like his mind was questioning himself. He closed his eyes to remember the events more clearly.

Flash Back

The Titans had encountered Black Glass again. This time the fight was going their way. The glass was as fast as ever. But there was a lack of it in this rundown part of town, forcing the villain to rely more on hand to hand combat, a specialty of the Titan's proud leader. Taking more risks than usual they had almost managed to corner Black Glass. Cyborg had rushed up to fight her instead of using long range attacks thinking his armor would protect him from most of her glass.

He came in and gave a right hook, sending her flying. She hit the wall and then, _"That's when it started," Beast Boy thought_. The blonde got up, her head now bleeding, and looked at Cyborg furiously. The glass turned blazing red starting with the pieces nearest to her going outward. They shot towards the Titans in unprecedented force, speed, and accuracy. This was something that had never happened before, she had managed to step up her game.

_"What the heck was going on in her head?" Beast Boy thought ._

At the time, the rest of them had to adapt or get hit with the blazing red glass. However, their confusion showed on their faces even as they battled her. Raven was the one who had been the first to recover. Another person whose powers depending on their emotion was no big deal. Black was one that she had never encountered before. However, red was easy to decipher. After all, Raven got angry all the time, mostly at Beast Boy. The blood dripping into Black Glass's eyes meant that she had to constantly rub it away, staining her hands with her own blood and wasting precious seconds.

This time the fight was one sided in their favor with their opponent having more than a little disadvantage. She managed to blindly attack them with good enough aim until Robin called for them to retreat a little ways back. Beast Boy instead rushed forward changing his shape to avoid the multitude of glass as it was hurled towards him. Finally settling on the form of a panther he jumped towards her.

The girl had now collected herself, casting away the anger like an old coat. The glass formed a shield that floated above her right arm stunning Beast Boy for a time. She built a series of walls in front of her, then began to box herself in one side at a time. Soon the girl couldn't be seen through the glass on all sides. By the time Cyborg had managed to blast through it she had disappeared, leaving a hole in the wall. Again Beast Boy didn't wait for the others, blindly rushing through the hole before it could be enlarged or sealed off.

_"I have done that," Beast Boy winced._

Before they could come through and alert the villain to their position, he told them, "I'll find her!" The building was a warehouse that seemed familiar, wasn't there a party he had been to in here? That didn't matter though, right now he had to find Black Glass. He crept around in the form of a mouse, sniffing the air for the scent of a human girl. He heard ragged breathing as he jumped up the steps that went to the makeshift upper floor. The smell was obvious to the mouse form that he had chosen-a dirty human, female, young, and-filled with fear. "What the heck"?

Black Glass was ripping a part of her jeans to bandage her head with, completely ignoring the baggy jacket that she wore. She heard a series of squeaks and turned directly to him, her eyes narrowing at what she saw. Some glass from a previously broken window shot up from the ground floor. He quickly dodged and changed form once again in under three seconds, something that he had been practicing recently for this purpose. The burned girl stood up, looking at the hyena that stood between her and the stairs.

She tilted her head to the side, taking in the hulking form that would easily rip through bone and sinew if it got too close. Beast Boy let out a few savage barks. _"What the heck was this girl doing?"_ Suddenly the villain dropped to her knees and began barking at him. "What?" Beast Boy was too surprised to keep his animal form up. Black Glass got up, ran past him, bolted down the stairs, and slammed the back door when she reached it.

Robin, Starfire and Raven were waiting in front of the door. When she backed up, Cyborg was behind her with Beast Boy. She was trapped. Cyborg grabbed her from behind and lifted her off the ground. They were all poised and ready for action. This would be it.

"Come quietly and we wont ask for a larger sentence," Robin said to the struggling villain.

_"For a normal villain that would be it," Beast Boy sighed._

An inhuman roar burst out of her mouth and glass broke up and down the block. A few shards of glass took the time to attach themselves to her finger nails. She spat blood at Robin while managing to turn around and slice upwards at Cyborgs face. The two males were the center of attention as she dropped to the ground awkwardly landing on her foot. They lost her again, though they were getting dangerously close to capturing her.

This time she left behind little chaos, but one important item, her signature half mask lay on the ground. They didn't see her face in the confusion, but no one who wears a mask would dare to be seen without it. It meant a stop to her run for at least a few days, even if the problem itself didn't disappear. They had stopped playing nice, but maybe they had taken it too far. The reason that Cyborg usually used his cannon was that his strength could give a regular person a concussion or cracked ribs if he exercised control.

Robin made an announcement later that night concerning Black Glass. He said that it appeared as though there was a fragment of glass in the back of Beast Boy's neck that needed to be removed. They didn't know how long it had been in there. "I'll look at it after it's out of Beast Boy," Robin assured. "Maybe I should look at it too," Raven interrupted. "Her powers are controlled by her emotions after all."

_"Then I just went into the infirmary," Beast Boy concluded._

Present time

Beast Boy touched his sore neck. He remembered the first time they encountered her. What had given her away was the cut on the back of his neck. Why on Earth had she done that? Did it give her some sort of power over him? That was creepy, she could kill him at any time and yet hadn't. Was he the reason she was doing this? No, she said that it was the Titans she was after. His memory wasn't so good though, and the Doom Patrol did go a lot of places.

Robin called him over the intercom to the medical room, saying that he should be the first to see this.

Beast Boy walked into the room ready for anything-well almost everything. On one wall was a projection of a collage of pictures. A small cat front and center, with the lines, "**помогнете ми**" scrawled all over it. It looked like the cat was made up of nothing but those two doodles on a closer inspection. The machine that projected it had the tiny shard of glass under a intense light that was reflected onto the wall opposite. Raven was standing in the corner looking visibly shaken with Robin closer to the door looking at Beast Boy carefully.

Beast Boy, however, was the one needing answers. What the heck was the cat about? He looked between Robin and Raven, waiting for one of them to speak. "It means 'help me'," Raven said finally before leaving. She brushed past Beast Boy as she went through the door with a paler than usual face. "Great! That helps a lot Raven," Beast Boy thought.

"She's been having dreams for the past five nights involving a small black cat that managed to worm its way into her mind. Beast Boy, do you have any idea on how long you had that glass shard?" Robin asked.

"I think I got it the first night," Beast Boy confessed. "It felt like there was someone who needed me to do something but I couldn't understand them."

"It's in Bulgarian. As an empath, Raven must have had it transferred to her then. Part of her doesn't want to fight us, it wants our help. It doesn't want to kill us, or we would have been dead on the first night. Raven managed to figure out what emotion black is. Fear. Black Glass is close to being terrified for some reason, it could be that she's being manipulated like Terra was. It also explains why she got angry at Cyborg hitting her so hard. She most likely thought we had gotten the message and were ignoring her," Robin continued. He went on about it being very easy to figure out the message, no code to crack or anything, just shine some light through and bam!

He glanced at Beast Boy as he was pulling up something on the computer. Beast Boy looked bad. Robin quickly cursed himself for bringing up Terra in front of Beast Boy of all people. Beast Boy's expression was being misread. He was simply deep in thought. "That explains it! You can't be surprised by something you already knew, and with that shard, I knew what she was trying to do. Or at least I knew instinctively. I don't speak Bulgarian. I couldn't figure it out! It took Raven and Robin butting in to get through. Curse my dumbness!"

Robin said he did a quick analysis of the type of wounds and their position in the body of Black Glass. A full blown Robin presentation with a slide show and pictures for those not medically inclined. The conclusion was not good. If she had no medical attention within the next 12 hours, they would be looking for a body, not a person. The Teen Titans would have blood on their hands.

* * *

*Short-ish chapter I know, but its more of a transition than anything. Please review so I know if I'm doing this right. This is going to be a really long fanfiction I warn you. At least 16 chapters. With a gag chapter at the end, 'cuz this stuff gets a little depressing after a while. Anyways sorry for being late on the update.*


	8. Dream Dive

**Chapter 8**

"Its been about three hours, why isn't she back? The fights don't usually last that long," Aqualad thought. He put his feet on the edge of his desk and lifted his chair legs up to pass the time. There was nothing to discuss. Mas e Menos weren't touching yet, Sophia-Black Glass wasn't back yet and there wasn't anything he could do. There was a whole lot of waiting rather than escaping that was being done.

He looked at the cards of tick-tack-toe that was piling up. It was a game that both of them knew how to play and was considered not particularly dangerous. It was almost ritualistic that they discuss things over a game of tick-tack-toe by know her limited limited knowledge of English, which was slowly expanding. If it weren't for the fact that things were complicated as they were her prisoners, she would fit right in. He remembered with a small smile how she had been so proud to read a whole page without having to look anything up.

Her child-like grin was so easy to picture right now in fact-there was a thud outside his cell. Aqualad stopped what he was doing immediately. He got up and walked over to the smoky colored wall, attempting to see through it. On the other side was "Sophie?" Aqualad thought stunned. Blood caked her forehead, her ankle was bent flat out wrong, she was clutching her ribs, covered in bruises, cuts, maybe even mud and looked in extreme amounts of pain.

"What in the name of Neptune happened?" he thought aghast. She was limping towards the doorway where her rooms were. He looked up at the sky in perplexity when he saw that she had gone through a skylight to get in, and that she was leaving a trail of blood in small pools. "This isn't the way to do this," he thought desperately, "she should be in a hospital. Why on Earth did they fight so that she would need to be in a hospital right now anyways? What where they thinking?"

Part of her hair was plastered over her face with the blood, but Aqualad realized that her mask must have been lost somewhere in the fray. She stumbled over towards the exit, bent on getting there for some reason. The others were at the walls of their cells and also had a looks of outrage on their faces. They had learned that she wasn't bad, regardless of which side of the law she was on. She fell down before reaching the exit. It didn't look like she would get up.

At first nothing happened.

...

Then it did.

Aqualad heard the glass all around him cracking, at first like one large split, then many ripples all over the container, until it exploded. Glass flew around twisting itself into a tornado above the fallen girl. They where out of their cages, the entrance to her secret room was open, and yet all they could do was watch. They saw faces flicker in the glass, silent screams, and the feeling of being tortured. They now had cuts from where the glass had grazed them while flying past toward the cyclone, but still they could only watch the blonde girl's nightmares.

It began at an airport with her and a boy with black hair and covered in tattoos arriving at in Jump City, America. Then it restarted every time from this: they watched the black haired boy be shot through the head. Over and over, they swore they had come close to drowning in icy water. Over and over, they see the jacket ripped away from the boy's corpse. Over and over, are they burned by a man with a taste for sadistic pastimes. Over and over, they are unable to save the hostages and see the senior citizens breathe their last. Over and over, they see the terror inflicted by a voice that they cannot hear but know is there. Over and over, they feel the weight of three buildings trapping them, knowing they will probably die.

It ended with a phrase, "_Аз няма да умра, все още. да умре сега. е неприемливо_", then the glass moved. The dream ends and the glass pushes itself against the wall, leaving the unconscious girl on the ground. The Titans East weren't standing by this point, they were on their knees. That was something that you do not forget, it was walking like a ghost in another person's mind. More than an invasion of privacy, it showed exactly where she had gotten that jacket of hers, from a dead best friend. If he could affect her nightmares so much, they were definitely close.

"If this is what the Titans 'did to her', no freaking wonder she hates them. Us. I can't tell anymore. This is the first time I've ever felt what it's like to drown," Aqualad thought. The experience of drowning was something that never should have happened to Aqualad. He had to deal with his own emotions right now, could he bring himself to touch the glass? That meant that he would have to hear and feel what she went through as well. It was a dizzying effect to have his element conspire against him-or her, this is was getting confusing.

The Titans East recovered after seeing the source of this violent cough. Bumble Bee stood shakily first, she took a deep breath before anything else happened. Then she spoke, "Mas, Menos, go check out what's in there. Speedy, help me check her wounds. Aqualad- translate." Mas and Menos came back waving there arms desperately trying to get their attention.

They were half dragged through the mysterious door, and they saw a microwave, mini fridge, hair straightener, and-Aqualad's eye twitched, a sushi platter. That was-no. Not important right now. It would be addressed later though. He had to translate right now. The killing of fish would be addressed.

"There's a blanket down there, five floors of stairs and not one shard of glass. Oh, and the microwave glass is probably somewhere in there. There's a back door across from this staircase. Also, where in an old factory that's on a abandoned island, not too far from the mainland. Its the middle of the night. All the stuff she stole is in the room on the second right. This next part is from me to you Bee, if that's control over her power I'm a mutant seagull that lives in cave in the Marianas Trench," he said with a stern look.

"We need to get something that dulls her power," Bee said.

"What about therapy? Is therapy suddenly out of the question to girl who saw someone get shot in the head? Most people would get therapy," Speedy ranted to no one.

"Speedy, for some reason she walked in on a bank robbery. I have a feeling seeing people die might have been a regular thing," Bee said, heading back to the injured girls side. First Aid was one of the many things you learned as a hero, as well as ignoring pointless squabbles. Aqualad looked over her wounds starting with the head and cracked ribs, going down to the-"Bee, you might want to check this out." He turned to her, panic evident in his voice.

Her knees down were covered in sewage with an obviously broken ankle. It made Aqualad sick, many of the cuts were most likely infected by now. "Mas, Menos, go get some water, we need to clean her wounds," he directed in spanish. The twin speedsters raced to the bathrooms with the broken microwave as a bucket. Speedy and Bee pushed Aqualad out of the way as they went on and did something about the wounds.

"And I'll investigate the writing on the wall," Aqualad said, mostly to himself. He walked over to the one that looked like a puddle. Closing his eyes, he touched the wall.

Dream Dive

Cold. Water. All around me. Can't breath. Can't hear right. Gotta keep moving until someone helps me. Help me, help me! Where are the sisters? Where are the other children? Someone look outside! Someone help me! I can't hold on. It's so cold. I'm scared.

Aqualad managed to detach himself from the child's memories somewhat, still entangled, but not as much. Now he was just under water with his vision changing constantly, afraid. Someone was pushing down on his head right now. He managed to struggle to the surface of the water, no grace or form right now. He looks up out of the well in which he is trying to get out. He sees a large building, a nunnery he knows without question. As he was coughing for some reason, he looks up higher. He sees a nun, 'Sister Elena,' open up a window, their eyes meet. The sister takes in the scene quickly, before closing the window with distaste, coldly leaving the nameless orphan in her care to die.

"What, why?" he thinks, his mind once more in sync with the original owners thoughts. "Why aren't you-" he/she/they didn't have time to think now. His/her/their head was thrust once more under the water by the priest. He/she/they struggled, managing to bite the vile man. He/she/they grasped at the bucket in the well, clawing at the stone work in a desperate attempt to live. The priest brings out a bible and begins to beat him/her/them with it shouting scripture as he did so.

Aqualad forcefully removed himself from the consciousness once more. It was painful...

A boy runs up. The child stared in disbelief at the brown haired child older than themself at the time defending them. The boy charged at the priest, kicking him hard in the shin. The priest curses and holds his leg in pain. The boy reaches out a hand and him/her/them reach a sopping wet arm up to grab it.

The priest is screaming and nuns have gathered around him, his leg was broken by the boy. The boy pulls him/her/them out and then runs him/her/them to a big house nearby. "What's your name?" asked the boy. "Don't have one," said the girl. "Can I call you Sofiya then, like the city we're in?" he asked. "I might have had a name but I never managed to remember it. I like the name Sofiya though. It sounds pretty," he/she/they said through chattering teeth.

Aqualad recognized the German flag and concluded that it must be the German embassy. He walked inside with the boy telling the girl what a amazing uncle he had. The maids dried off the soaking wet child and gave her some new clothes. Ultimately though she was turned out in secret by the boy's uncle, the dream turning sour once again. She wandered the streets clutching the small blanket that she had around her in the dead of winter. The dream ended with her falling down in the snow nearby a shadow, feeling cold, wet, and frightened.

The dream ended with Aqualad opened his real eyes.

Reality

Aqualad yanked his hand back from the wall. To feel scared of something that was a part of him so much, that was scary all on its own.

It took about 5 seconds until it registered in Bumble Bee's mind that Aqualad was going to touch the walls. "Aqualad get away-" Bumble Bee began. Aqualad's usually tanned face was pale and his hands were shaking. "Bee, you not only hear sound when you touch the walls, you feel the emotions, and can see out of her eyes. For as long as you are in that dream, you **are** her unless you push her out. I can tell you what she was thinking when a priest tried to drown her. If this hadn't happened, I couldn't imagine it," he gave a hoarse laugh, "I still can't. Don't touch the spot that looks like a puddle. Feeling what it's like to drown isn't pleasant. She's Bulgarian by the way, not German. You thought of the wrong version of Sofiya. She's also an orphan."

"Lad," began Bee. He shook his head, instead gesturing for her to take care of Sofiya. His eyes lost their vague look, there was no way above or below the waves that he was going to let Sofiya die because of some wounds. After going through that, he thought that she deserved to have some help. He looked at her without her mask on for the first time. He didn't see a villain, he saw a feverish girl that was under his custody that needed help.

"I'll call some friends of mine. Doesn't Robin have some serum in his tower that should block her powers?" Aqualad said after tending her wounds. Her face was oddly younger than they had thought, eleven or twelve. Sleep didn't make her face any more peaceful, though. The nightmares she had might haunt the rest of them for many nights.

The Titans East left the island on the back of whales with a notorious villain in their custody. If you asked the whales though, it as more like she was under their protection. What do whales know though?

* * *

*The phrase was this: I will not die yet. to die now. is unacceptable. Please review so I know I am doing this right.


	9. Language Barrier

**Chapter 9**

[] = in spanish **I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING!**

**Chapter 9**

"No running super speeds on my whale friends you two! It hurts them!" Aqualad shouted to Mas y Menos.

[What did he just say bro?] Mas asked in Spanish.

[Just something about super speeding on the whales.] Menos responded with a dismissive wave.

[Can we do it]? Mas asked with his arms out and tilting his head.

[We can do anything, just probably not with Aqualad watching.] Menos said with a sneaky look.

[That's been obvious since we were born. So what do you think, will she be alright?] Mas asked Menos concerned.

[Well, we don't get in trouble with anyone watching us.] Menos responded.

[Yeah, but we've always had each other to watch the other. Sofia doesn't have her other anymore. He died.] Mas said sadly.

[Don't ever die on me Mas.] Menos said with tears in his eyes.

[Never Menos!] Mas said embracing his brother and the waterworks began.

The other members of Titans East watched them for a while. They weren't too far from the island by this point and Sofiya was still unconscious. Her condition hadn't improved once they had left the shore. Speedy's condition and Aqualad's condition's were polar opposites, Aqualad was happy as a clam, Speedy was hurling over the side. This kind of behavior from the twins was normal, but unusual that they had distinctly heard the word Sofiya before the waterworks.

Speedy was miserable and decide to taunt the twins. "Hey," he called out mockingly, "You guys switched to Sofiya and give up on Starfire?"

Menos got on top of Mas and together they shouted, "Abandonan Starfire? A usted? Nunca!"

"Where they stand on that one seems pretty clear to me," Aqualad said with a grin.

"Shut up, you're just glad we're riding a giant fish," Speedy griped, throwing a barnacle into the ocean as he did so.

"A whale is not a fish, it is a mammal like you. I see a lot of improvement between with the order of Crustacean than the order of Primates," Aqualad shot back.

"Both of you be Quiet! Sofiya has enough problems without sleep loss, too!" Bumble Bee said viciously in a low tone. The two shut up quickly and watched the waves. Well, Aqualad watched them, Speedy was up-chucking into them. Mas y Menos sat quietly away from the group, leaning against each other back to back.

They weren't ones to keep what they thought in their heads. However, what if the Mas had a different opinion? What if Menos did? A conversation dutifully came up between the two that went like this:

[Do you think it's all right? To turn her in, I mean. They didn't see what we saw, and it's not right to tell others about that kind of stuff.] Menos said to Mas.

[I know what you mean. She needs help, but does she need their help? I'm starting to not like it. After all, she doesn't speak English either. It usually helps at least a little if you can speak the language.] Mas replied with a frown.

[Yeah, and Bulgaria doesn't share a border with Mexico so we have no idea what she's saying.] Menos held out both hands.

[Sort of sounds like our situation, only in reverse.] Mas agreed.

[Ha, so now we have another foreigner!] Menos laughed.

[Yup, she's not as pretty as Starfire though.] Mas said.

"Starfire," the twins sighed. They quietly watched the waves for a little while longer, seeing the whale's tail go up and down with bleary smiles on their faces thinking of Starfire. Their minds ran wild with ideas of going on a date with her. When they both reached the point were she accepted their daisies, instead of her delighted face, they saw her become crestfallen. After quietly leading them to a graveyard she left their imagination. They saw one grave with no markings telling when its occupant died or their name, only a cross made out of glass.

The two speedsters woke quickly up from their accidental nap. They looked at each other and solemnly nodded. They decided that by going at a regular person's pace they could talk and go check on Sofía. It was just to much trouble to call her Black Glass right now. English was too hard to learn, specially since you couldn't get people moving along at your speed to explain it.

[So, how do we make sure she isn't treated badly?] Mas debated.

[Maybe we could go and... do something.] offered Menos.

[Least you tried bro.] Mas said patting Menos on the back.

[We'll let Bumble Bee loose on them!] Menos proclaimed.

[Yeah! That'll scare the pants off anyone!] Mas agreed.

Bumble Bee looked behind her and saw Mas y Menos walking up at normal speed. She had distinctly heard her name in their conversation, and it wasn't to get her attention. Her eyebrow twitched. Did they really have the nerve to gossip about her in hearing range? That was not allowed, or at least not encouraged after seeing a villain once she was done with them that had gossiped with her in the room about Herald and her being in a long distance relationship.

The limitations she had set on herself had left the guy intact, more or less. Yet the graduates of Hive Academy were definitely not going to forget that one-not for a long while. It was an incident that neither Aqualad or Sparky had mentioned to the others, mercifully. She never would live it down if it leaked. That was for sure. No one-**no one** was going to find out if she could help it.

Mas and Menos were at least trying to abide by the rules. They hadn't let go of each other's hands for a second once being able to connect again. Which was all well and good. After all, if you thought your twin had died, would you be prepared to let them go a second time? Any twin will tell you this: Hell to the NO!

[So we will run around smashing things. Let Bumble Bee lose on them. Speedy can threaten at arrow point. Aqualad can... What can Aqualad do?] Mas asked.

[Make the underground tunnel cave in with his whale friends?] Menos suggested wildly.

[Wow. When you say it like that bro, Aqualad doesn't sound all that wimpy!] Mas said, suitably impressed.

[I know right? Oops, we're near Sofía now.] Menos hushed his brother quickly.

The two super speeders looked down at the unconscious blonde. She looked bad, some of those wounds were not looking good with time. Her skin was more ashen by the minute and she was starting to get a fever. That, and the others were saying something about rampant powers, etc. and uncomfortable whales, etc, etc. One phrase caught their attention. Five miles off the island and they couldn't come closer to the shallows.

[What do you think bro? Five miles with these little waves?] Mas asked with a grin.

[Easy.] Mas said while his face mirrored his twin's.

The twins grasped hands and shouted, "¡Más y Menos, sí podemos!" They set off for the tower in record time, causing Aqualad to moan with agony at the red marks on his friend's back while trying to calm the team's ride. Mas y Menos were already in the tower by the time Aqualad started spouting fishy curses at them. They needed something that would wake up the whole tower and fast.

So the twins grabbed a frying pan each and crept into the dreaded room. Their silhouettes paused at the door for a moment. [Pee-ew, what is that smell?] asked Mas. [Well this is Beast Boy's room.] Menos said holding his nose. They tip-toed to Beast Boy's bed where the shape-shifter was happily snoring.

WHAM!

The pots collided brilliantly just above a certain someone's green pointy ear. That certain someone's scream was girlishly high-pitched enough to wake the Tower. The trumpeting of an elephant just added to the effect. Lights went on all over the Tower as the Teen Titans rushed to Beast Boy's room or more accurately, the hallway next to Beast Boy's room due to the smell. What were they to find there but two grinning previously missing speedsters looking very proud of themselves? The Teen Titan's green member was now grinning ear to pointed ear though still clutching his bed sheet and the surprise became welcome.

"Friends that we thought had been lost to us! Welcome!" Starfire said with a big hug. The twins exchanged high-fives behind her back caused Robin to be a little annoyed with them.

"You guys are alive. Wait where's the others? Did they make it out ok? Did they make it out at all?" the groups collective questions piled one on top of the other until finally the Menos got on top of Mas and together they shouted, "El Silencio!"

The Titans bit their tongues as the twins got a white board and a marker. First they drew a 'T' in bubble letters. Next there was a fish, wait it had spray coming out so that makes it a whale. Then an arrow, a bee, and a half-mask were drawn in the spray. After that was a syringe next to the 'T'.

Mas y Menos drew a line before going to the other half of the board. A stick figure with a half-mask had waves of power getting out of a hand. Plus syringe and x waves from half-mask stick figure. Then they did a bunch of cuts, scrapes, and bruises on the stick figure. Last but not least a band-aid, wait make that two. Time to decipher.

The rest of the Titans East was on a whale with Black Glass. The Teen Titans apparently had a syringe that would stop her powers from getting out of control. She was hurt, badly, and needed someone to fix her up. That and the twins couldn't be bothered to learn English, which would really help in situations like these. Either way, everyone looked at Robin curiously as to the meaning of the syringe.

"It's for use when dealing with villains that had special needs. Plasmus was the main reason I had it sent over. It stops someone's powers. Of course, using it on a person without their permission is illegal unless it's an emergency," Robin said as he walked to a notch in the wall. A scanner popped up and a code was dialed in. He took the syringe out and gave it to Raven.

"Starfire, Raven, fly over along with Mas y Menos to the Titans East. Once Black Glass has the suppressor in, take her, Speedy, Aqualad and Bumble Bee back here. We can discuss what to do then," he said.

Mas y Menos frantically waved their arms to get attention. After erasing the board they drew the half-masked stick figure again. This time they covered it's legs with trash bags, rotten apples and held their noses. "Sewage?!" The twins nodded before folding their arms and tapping their feet.

"We didn't see her go anywhere near the sewers," Cyborg said with a frown.

The twin speedsters relaxed and next appeared at the door to the stairs. Starfire and Raven followed them to the whales. The Titans East looked a little worn out, well every except for Aqualad. He was lecturing Mas y Menos on their reckless behavior. Starfire and Raven curiously walked over to the blonde that was in Bumble Bee's lap. It was time to see the girl without the mask.

The burn was still there and it gave Raven a sense of doom. Other than that though, she was rather young the original members realized. If it weren't for the scar, she would almost be cute, though too skinny to have baby fat. She was in bad shape though. Heat was radiating off her forehead and a foot was not supposed to bend like that. Black Glass seemed to be straining against something and Raven had a suspicion that it had nothing to do with the current situation her body was in.

The two girls quickly put the syringe next to her arm and, before they could think about it, delivered the medicine. Her fever went down rapidly. They then carried her and Speedy back. Aqualad insisted on swimming while Bumble Bee flew alongside them and Mas y Menos ran on water. The male half of the Teen Titans were already stationed in the infirmary.

Cyborg saw Black Glass and cringed. He knew very well what he had contributed to make her look that bad. Beast Boy looked at the young girl with a sick feeling in his stomach. Sure, most of it wasn't his fault directly, but he was a member of the Teen Titans, one for all and all for one. Robin still saw a criminal, no matter the age, but an alive one at least. He paused for a moment to think.

"Put her in the underground cell. Bumble Bee, how far do her powers reach?" Robin asked.

"About 4 to 5 stories up and I assume the same down and around," Bumble Bee replied avoiding his gaze.

"How did you guys break out anyway?" Beast Boy asked tilting his head curiously.

"We didn't," Speedy said bluntly.

"So she let you guys go?" Cyborg asked incredulously.

"Well... No. We'll explain it all in a minute. First we need to get her down there and get medicine before she goes from bad to worse," Aqualad said quickly.

"You all are behaving very strangely today," Starfire said with a suspicious look.

Titan's East stopped in their tracks. Tensed, they spouted lie after lie about how everything was fine. The false smiles on their faces where so easy to spot, it was sickening really. Mas y Menos looked at each other and then frowned as the rest of their team mates attempted to cover themselves. Neither of them liked to lie, but how could they tell the truth? This was a hard one. What was the truth in all of this, and could they even explain it?

Raven was starting to catch on to the fact that something was not right here, and not the whole truth was being told. The girl was injured. Something had happened, in between Black Glass getting back and them breaking out. The blonde shivered on Speedy's back. Raven caught the look Titans East gave her as well as the quick muttering of three syllables by the twins- Sofiya.

Her eyes widened. You do not know a villains given name unless you are with them. They didn't feel any different though emotionally, same as usual. Mas nudged Menos who nodded. This was one cat that was going to get out bag soon enough. They went and pressed the button for the elevator sooner rather than later as the others would do it. Raven's curiosity grew though. Part of the blonde's hair stuck to her face with sweat. Raven reached over to brush it out of her face.

The twins eyes widened. As an empath, she would learn a whole lot more than what they saw. Judging by the display she could put out with just glass and her dreams, this would **not **end well! At the same time, they muttered the exact same phrase, "maldita sea." In English it meant 'Damn it.'

*Well, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy with a lot of stuff. That's not really a good excuse though, but please forgive me and let me know if I'm doing this right.


	10. A Question of Trust

**Chapter 10**

Robin looked out of the Tower window. There were more and more people gathering. Political questions were arising from them keeping Black Glass here, feeding her, not turning her in to the police for trial. He sighed. This was something that had not been in any idea of an outcome of getting the Titans East out. He had to trust the others' judgement on this. Though Robin had a hard time trying to find a way of justifying something that was completely against his principals with what Raven had said.

Flash Back to two nights ago

Raven hadn't meant to touch the girl with her bare hand. That much was obvious from anyone's point of view. Raven's eyes widened and her head jerked back uncontrollably, while her powers shot out everywhere spiking into several sharp points. She gasped and recoiled from Black Glass but kept looking at her. The young girl was not held in horror but Raven looked like she had encountered something that was going to change somethings.

"Raven, are you ok?" Robin asked. How did she get hurt just by touching her forehead? What on earth was going on?

"You are unhurt aren't you?" Starfire said hurriedly, rushing to her friend's side. For some unknown reason there had been a bad reaction to the girl.

"I'm fine. She isn't, we need her below as soon as possible. Someone needs to get medicine from the infirmary, there's no way we can treat her there. I'm not sure what I saw, but I know that if what I saw was even an inkling of something else, something bigger. Then you can't hide anything, we need to know. For her safety as well as our own," Raven ended this looking directly at the Titans East with a sharp expression.

Shamefaced they proceed in silence to the open elevator. Beast Boy, Raven and Robin joined them while Cyborg and Starfire headed to the infirmary for medicine. About three years ago when Slade had secretly dug under the Tower, truthfully they never filled in the space below. Instead, they cleaned up the broken glass, extended the elevator system, and added the area to the Tower. Needless to say while there was emergency provisions, water and a third back up generator down there, it wasn't much to look at.

Robin remember those days with a certain sense of irony. Instead of a villain trying to get in through to the Titans, they were trying to get through to a villain. The actions of the Titans East were baffling, but would soon be explained if they didn't want to deal with an angry Raven. No one wanted to deal with an angry Raven if they wished to keep living.

As gently as they could, the Titans East set her down on the bed, the door would be locked immediately. There was no cameras down there to speak of, simply a emergency area for tactical retreat, or if the power went out. Starfire and Cyborg hurried a few minutes after them in haste with medicine in tow. Everyone winced when they saw exactly how bad the injuries were, so many failures that stacked on top of her. First her foot was put into a temporary splint. Then her wounds were methodically cleaned and treated, after a few of the superficial ones the boys were sent out into the hall

The Titans East were then lined up after leaving Black Glass to her rest. It was time they fessed up, what exactly had happened to them and they weren't telling? Who would begin the tale that meant very little as almost none of it could be considered true... Speedy began to speak, he started from the beginning slowly explaining everything up until the part where things got tricky. Aqualad took things up after that, explaining in plain words what had come to pass. He stopped for a moment after drowning in Black Glass's mind.

Bumble Bee finished the story, filling in gaps that they were uncertain of what exactly had transpired. All of the Teen Titans were stunned into silence at the reaccounting of what had gone on inside those four stone walls. Could they tell her how much they knew though? This didn't change much and yet it changed everything. They had some puzzle pieces only to find out that the puzzle itself was much bigger than when they first started trying to fit things together.

"This is beyond insane," thought Robin. "Not all powers can be explained, but this one's easy if you know the facts. Her eyes can see in the dark, that's why all of her attacks took place at night. Her eyes were the precursor to any other abilities she might have. They chose to manifest themselves then because of the thought that she might die. The thought of death will make you do things you thought you never would otherwise," he reflected to himself while going over his own instances of near death.

The others had reached the same conclusion by the expressions on their faces. All of them had a variety of expressions on their faces, but Robin knew they had the same thoughts. That's what came of knowing people so long, you knew them too well to not know what they were thinking. He looked to Raven now, she had to explain what she had seen after just touching Black Glass's forehead. Whatever had happened could not have been good by her previous reaction.

"She, her mind, it rejected my presence. From what I can tell, her powers cause a huge amount of strain on her. There seems to be a debate going on in her head. Something you would not want to be in the middle of, it's... Different. Much different than when Cyborg and Beast Boy went into my mind," she paused for a moment to glare at them before continuing, "It wasn't coherent, but I think that if we keep her powers in check that she won't be able to escape or injure anyone or herself."

There was a heavy silence in the room, many things could not be decided in one night and there was other problems to worry about, namely- rooming.

"Can we crash here for tonight?" asked Bumble Bee on the behalf of her team.

"With how big the circles of dark are underneath your eyes, leaving is completely out of the question," Starfire said with feeling to let Robin think for a while longer.

Everyone piled into the elevator while Robin stayed behind for first watch. After a few hours he heard something moving in the bunker and went in to check it out. The blonde girl was starting to wake up, when she should be asleep. Her green eyes were exactly like a cats with the stilted pupil and bright green coloring, he realized. When she got up the strength to look around she drew herself back against the wall with her eyes staring suspiciously at him. Robin attempted to walk over but stopped when he saw her cringing at his movement towards her.

"Who are you afraid of me, the Titans, someone else?" the question came out without him realizing it. He hadn't thought to really ask it as she was barely awake, with multiple drugs in her, and not likely to talk at the best of times. The blonde girl looked up at him, her burned face and cat eyes not letting him look away. She shifted slightly on the bed while keeping her eyes locked onto his without blinking. Slowly she shook her head three times.

"No. Not afraid of you. Not afraid of Titans. Not afraid of someone else," she responded quietly after breaking eye contact. Her eyes were drooping and her effort to stay awake was taking its toll. Seeing nothing else to do, Robin took the chair and sat outside the door pondering what she had said. Black Glass collapsed back onto the bed once he left and promptly fell asleep.

That was how the night ended for Robin before going to sleep when Cyborg came to relive him for guard duty shortly afterward feeling even more mistified.

Current time

All he could do was trust Raven's and the Titan East's collective judgement. He understood why they did not want to share the information in hindsight, that was sensitive information for any person regardless of criminal history. To see into another person's memory like that, to essentially be that person for as long as that memory lasted or until you could get out, was beyond invasive. To tell someone else what they saw at that, for all of them to watch her dreams, that was as close to threatening that person with a knife to the throat. It was like a silent horror movie that you didn't pick out at the store but were forced to watch that was based on a true story. Based on a true story.

He couldn't get that part out of his head. The fact that it wasn't simply based on a true story but that every detail was the truth, the reality of it was close to overcoming him. There were events that made a person bad, and events that made a person good. He only had information that would condemn her in the long run if nothing changed fast. The reporters and protesters could wait for a while, he had some things before dealing with them.

He took the elevator down to the floor where Black Glass was being kept. She responded had to his questioning oddly. It was obvious that she understood what was being asked but didn't give a very clear answer. Robin became more and more determined to find out what was going on. Beast Boy waved him through to the room Black Glass was being kept.

"What are you afraid of?" he said as soon as he got in. The blonde girl sat on her bed wide awake with only some anti-biodics and a truck load of every pain-killer they could stuff into her. Her burn was as black as always, only show casing the fact that she was pale, underfed, and weaker than normal. If it weren't for her powers than the lack of muscle would have done her in the first night. She looked up at him with those same uncanny eyes that he couldn't tell where they were looking.

"I fear," she paused uncertainly, "me. That is what I fear," she said simply.

After this Robin was uncertain how to proceed. Luckily he didn't have to, Beast Boy rushed in before the conversation between the serious boy and equally serious girl could continue.

"Robin! Robin! It's a emergency! The reporters have started a riot, they're practically trying to mob the place with some other people that just came in." Robin's communicator crackled to life just as Beast Boy finished. Cyborg's face appeared on it after a moment of static.

"Robin! They're here! I have no idea how, but they are!" said Cyborg frantically.

"Slow down, whose here?" Robin said into the communicator.

"The Hive 5! Minus Jinx of course, she's on our side." Cyborg replied with to much motion to see his face clearly.

"The Hive 5? But they're in deep freeze. They've been like that since Paris," Robin nearly shouted, understanding Cyborg's frenzy.

"Perish?" asked Black Glass with a tilt of her head.

The two Titans looked at her curiously. How did she not know about Paris? It was everywhere, anyone on either side knew about it, there was no excuse to not know about it. Wait, how long had she been under there, it had already been almost half a year since then. They had gone to Japan and back in that time. That could wait though. She could survive a hour or two until they could sort this mess out. Was she, nodding at him?

"отивам," she said with a shooing motion and bored expression. Her accent had changed to something that he supposed would be Bulgarian, the American accent must have been a fake.

Robin grinned, at least she tried. She copied his dare-devil smile and for a second they didn't look all that different, almost like siblings with that expression. Robin had a feeling that if things had been different she wouldn't be that much different from him. She wasn't someone who was bad after all. It was unusual though, a criminal Robin could forgive circumstances made him very cautious. Beast Boy impatiently tapped his foot, breaking the moment. It could all wait.

"Hel-lo. Bad guys at our front door?" Beast Boy said with a head nod in the general direction of the elevator.

"отивам" Black Glass said stretching out the individual syllables.

"Go?" Robin asked looking at her.

"Go-o-o,"Black Glass said before falling back on her pillow in exasperation.

"Going," he said unable to resist the challenge.

"сляпо" she said turning her back to him. The word was most likely offensive and Robin decided not to grace it with an answer instead thinking to settle the matter with an unfrozen Hive 5 quickly and deal out insults latter. How wrong he was in his thinking on so many accounts.

*Well that's all I'll let you have for now, sorry for not updating in so long, things get really hectic on my end of the rope. сляпо means dummy. отивам is obviously go.


	11. Memory Has a Mind of It's Own

**Chapter 11**

Raven sat on her bed trying to find some much needed sleep that was refusing to come. She finally admitted that meditation of the normal variety was not going to send her to dreamland any faster. What she had encountered was beyond what she had been trained for in any place she had been. The girl while still unconscious was an incredible force to deal with, her mind had attacked back at Raven's entrance. It worked in a different way than the meditation mirror, by attacking the outside presence it meant it saw her as a threat. From the glimpse she had got though, Black Glass seemed like an alter ego to something else. Sofiya maybe, as Bumble Bee had suggested?

"What was so different?" she said before picking up her mirror.

Flash Back

She felt a mixture of pity and amazement for what had happened to Aqualad. How on earth did he survive that? Finding himself in a child's memories, the difference in the mind development, while being tangled up in another's conscious. That was not even an idea on any planet where empathy was taken to the degree as on Azarath. It was unheard of on Earth for that matter as what could be considered mind-reading wasn't common in the majority of the population.

That entire story, forcing your will onto so many parts was never a good sign if you were unconscious, in fact it was the worst possible sign at this stage. That was dangerous beyond all compare from what her studies said. Before they had told that story, she had been ready to put this child in jail. Just touching her she had seen... What? What exactly had she seen by simply brushing some hair away?

In the Mind of Black Glass

A young girl had been sitting with her back to Raven on a rooftop looking out on a city that was much like Jump City with a few key differences. Looking behind her, Raven saw a unknown city that consisted of light, and nothing but light. The moon was out, and yet it was not the moon of earth as she had known it. Many more pocket marks, and all of it was flickering in many colors, the colors of the city's lights it seemed. There was an inky blackness though, it threatened to over whelm parts of the world Raven was in. Past the young girl on this side of the rooftops, there were five figures that Raven recognized with a sinking feeling herself among them.

They appeared to be the Teen Titans and behind them on other rooftops there were all of the honorary Titans excluding the Titans East. They were grinning, but somehow there lack of seriousness was infuriating. The normally reassuring faces of her friends had been twisted into something terrible. The girl in front of Raven had not turned around, yet her arms were bracing herself to push off of the building. It was time to go on the offence and two girls jumped away from the building. The girl from a few seconds before had split into two people.

Glass flew everywhere as the Titans began to move in a sloppy way towards the girl that was rushing to meet them a glass point. There was a second girl with blonde hair though she moved like a shadow, trying to touch the Titan. When she did it changed them back for a few moments. Raven watched as the battle became more and more intensified. She leaped down to aid the girl that ran around trying to turn back the Titans into the people they always were. Both of the blondes turned to look at her as she landed.

One had a burn on half of her face but an white and gold mask that did not look like Black Glass's, the other had both masks on, one of Black Glass, the other of an unknown person. The first had a colorless and shapeless outfit while the other wore the outfit of Black Glass. A look of pain crossed over the faces and they merged together overlapping one another every second. Together they **pushed **Raven out of their mind the glass moved along with her, and something akin to agony came over them, making them bend double with the buildings contorted around them.

It felt and looked exactly like that, almost to the point where she would have been compressed into nothingness if she had stayed in there. It was an attack, or was it? Either way she could not allow the girl to stay in the Tower itself. The Titans East had confirmed it, she had too much ability to be allowed in there. She hadn't told the others anything until she was sure. It did not seem like any of their previous idea's worked with what she had seen.

Starfire was showing everyone to their rooms at this point, trying to talk Robin out of the first shift at the same time while failing miserably. Raven had up to her room for solitude from the noise. Disliking the fact of how little she knew.

Present Time

Raven could no longer postpone looking in her mirror as she had done for a day now. She went into her own mind at this point. There sat the little black cat on a stone. Raven looked at it in aggravation. It jumped down and rubbed against her legs for attention only succeeding to make her more annoyed.

"I know who you are, I think. Why do you look like this?" Raven demanded. The cat stopped trying to get attention instead it walked back a few paces and jumped up to Raven's eye level tapping the jewel embedded in her forehead. Instead of a cat there now was a younger girl standing in front of Raven wearing a shapeless and colorless outfit. The blonde had a cat mask on but had a large smile.

"Здравейте отново. Raven."

"Hello again. Raven," Raven's mind translated the strangers speech, not in words but in pictures. By the time she registered what had been said a stream of words was already coming out of the blonde's mouth while being pulled along, her mind translating it into pictures.

"You want answers, I have them. You will have to come with me though, outside your mind. Then I can explain things I know. If I don't know it, then I can't explain it."

"Are you Sofiya?" asked Raven. The blonde girl paused for a moment. Raven was able take in that she was not on a path that existed in her mind but one that might join her mind to another. Ahead of her was the city that she had seen before, full of light, movement, and sounds that did and did not fit in with Jump City's everyday hubbub but only at a distance. The girl tugged on her sleeve to get Raven moving again.

"I'm Sofiya. I'm also not Sofiya or Sofia. It's complicated, but easy enough to show you because this is Sofia," said the blonde at last. She and Raven were high above the city and not on any rooftop. The streets twisted and turned often with four different entrances for every direction. An old city and a young girl reunited. Raven could also see that they were descending at an alarming rate.

They went away from the lights, and descended into an alley way where a boy with a hooded white jacket and sweat pants waited until the blonde nodded before relaxing and greeting Raven with a nod. Raven noticed that neither of them wore shoes. She also noted that though there was no apparent light source there seemed to be light everywhere, and at lampposts it was especially bright, like midday. The blonde and the boy talked to each other in a mix of sign language and rapidly changing languages. The bright cat eyes of the blonde looked concerned at the boy with many tattoos or...

Those weren't tattoos. They were moving for one, and they changed shapes for another. Shifting from one character to the next more and more rapidly, an effect of some sort of curse Raven would bet. The boy walked over and Raven saw how hard it was to tell his nationality with only black hair and brown eyes to go on. The boy grabbed her wrist, and Raven found herself being pulled along past multitudes of people to a back alley with a poorly lit lamp at a back door. They were let into a restaurant and theater with box seats. The blonde and her friend sat down while Raven remained standing.

"You're lucky, I never would get to eat inside. The owner would never let me, doesn't it taste great Raven?" asked the girl while looking at the menu.

"What do you mean, never be allowed inside? Why does no one here feel alive?" she asked softly. The blondes happy face turned into a sad face for a moment. Then she was thoughtful.

"Didn't you realize when we meet Raven? It should have been obvious. I, nor are the people in this place feel alive because we aren't alive. We are only memories and even then, not true memories. It was funny when you called me a stray thought, and you were pretty darn accurate. You could say that I am a will of the person you may or may not know," said the blonde taking a sip of water.

"Who are you, Sofia or Black Glass? What is the name of that boy, and why is he here if he is dead?" Raven asked in a somewhat gentler tone. The knowledge that you aren't an independent person would be rough for anyone.

"He is not dead here, and his name is Бялата сянка. Is he really dead in real life? That would make me sad. This is only a memory though, Raven. I am only the will of someone who made the memory. I only know things up to the point of the summer of what may be last year. I understand that I was boarding a plane then my memory stops," the blonde paused for a moment, "Am I dead and your only means of figuring out what had happened on that plane, because I assure you I am not guilty. I think."

"No. The you who your memory comes from is fine," said Raven deadpan. Inside she was chuckling at the blonde's immediate thought on why she existed, but while being curious about the name White Shadow for her partner decided not to ask any questions. They were walking with the boy a few paces ahead in the crowd. The shopping district was no longer as packed as the moon climbed up into the sky. The same moon she had seen in Black Glass's head. Black Cat pressed herself against the window to look at the display of musical instruments inside.

"Why do you look like that, everything else is crystal clear here but yourself?" Raven found herself asking.

"I've never seen myself, and you are simply putting a picture to my voice and essence. Вие наистина трябва да се научат какво е и какво не е вярно за очите, Raven? You look confused," said the blonde bluntly.

"I just heard Bulgarian for a moment not English," she said.

"Oh, I've been speaking very little this entire time. I've only given you thoughts as messages. I just said that you really need to learn what is and is not true for the eyes. After all, we are in the shopping district, look at that window display. Maybe you'll see, maybe you won't," the blonde said smiling, as she pressed away from the glass.

Raven looked in the glass, at first all she saw was the objects through the window. Then one by one the people in the window's reflection all disappeared but one. A blonde girl stood in an empty street. She was barefoot with thin, torn black leggings, black shorts on the outside with yellow on the inside, a dark red vest that left her shoulders bare except for a cape. The cape was black on the outside but again yellow on the inside with black paw prints dotting it. A small pocket that had a stamp case sticking out with only a paw print stamp in her shorts. Finally there was that exact mask that she had seen, the white and gold one that took over the forehead completely, leaving the checks bare and covering the nose.

That was not the outfit a villain would ever wear. Raven did not turn around when she asked, "Are you the villain Black Glass?"

The blonde girl shook her head with an amused expression on her face. "No Raven. I am not Black Glass, I can't think of anything of myself that has to do with glass at all. This is what Sofiya looks like, or she should. I am the one who visiting thieves and anarchists fear. I am known by many names but mostly... The Black Cat of Sofia. Friend of the Night, and the Secret Savior, Sofia's Hero to be!" She shouted with a cocky grin and began climbing a fire escape for an unknown reason.

"Hero to be?" Raven asked hurrying after her.

"Yeah," Black Cat shrugged, "Right now they don't like me or White Shadow very much so we are going to America to train."

"America?" asked Raven after finally using her powers to catch up.

"We're are going to America because America has Jump City. Jump City has the Teen Titans, the most well known and respected group of under aged crime fighters around. We've watched them on the TV all the time, they're really good. We've had a lot of things moved and shifted around, but basically we are going to try and surprise them and see how good we are. We might even get to train with them for a bit, either way though we leave for three days of the summer. Something must have gone wrong or I wouldn't be here," finished Black Cat a bit more sullenly without stopping her climb.

Raven notice that this was the building they had passed when first coming down. She was probably going to be kicked out of city Black Cat had shown her. The blonde steeped into a glass elevator and Raven found herself on one of the many familiar paths of her own mind. She could no longer see Black Cat.

"I'm here, which means the person who I come from maybe doesn't want me right now. Or she want's you to know me. Don't give up though, it says a lot that I'm still alive for that person. See ya!" Was the last thing that Raven heard from Black Cat. In the resulting silence Raven left her mirror more confused. Black Cat came here to train, got captured by someone, and now was attacking of her own free will as Black Glass.

"This answers who she was, it doesn't answer who she's become. Her eyes but not her powers. Her friend but not his role in all this. After seeing her as a child though... I can't condemn her so quickly." That was the only thing certain in Raven's mind. Black Cat did not deserve that burn, and she did not deserve to be locked up because of a few things. You don't change that quickly after all... who knows what a few months could do though.

*I did it! Finally writing again after all this time. Looks like there is another part to this game, or maybe ally for Sofia. Review to let me know I'm doing this right.


	12. Drastic Action

**Chapter 12**

Seemore, Mammoth, Billy Numerous, Gizmo, Billy Numerous 2, Kyd Wykkyd, Billy Numerous 3 &amp; 4\. After that point Starfire figured it would be useless to continue counting. It was evident that the entire Hive 5 was out and about distinctly not frozen underneath the streets of Paris. What on earth had happened to get them out of deep freeze, and more importantly **who** helped? All of the events that had happened two days ago did not spell this out in the new future. The return of the Titans East was a return of mixed feelings but

Flash back to the day after Titans East's return.

"That Black Glass is very strange," Starfire thought to herself. She turned over in the air to look at Silky deciding to speak to him on the matter. "She seems to be a little girl that keeps on confusing everyone. When she came out of the shadows she seems very normal, if a bit like myself when unsure of proper behavior. The burn is easy to ignore enough, though it is confusing is on what the color of it is. Burns are supposed to red or pink not black. She appears to be a normal child though."

She then turned over to face the window where the media had begun to gather today and thought sadly, "She _is_ just a normal child."

From the discussions with the Titan East members she seemed to be a only child that didn't know English. No torture was involved in their imprisonment, they had their own furniture, and when she talked to them it seemed like she just wanted to chat as though she was lonely. Aqualad knew many languages and had been trying to teach her more English, Bumble Bee weapons, Speedy hair protocol, and the twins got along well enough with her when the speedsters could speak to each other. The three of them playing a few simple games. Granted there hadn't been the build up of bad feelings with the attack and harm of Beast Boy to factor in, but even with that...

It was not the normal behavior of someone who broke into shops, kidnapped people, attacked a hero team and refused to seek medical attention. It didn't fit together, someone couldn't be that flip flopped and not have it show on a brain scan that had been preformed the night earlier. Bumble Bee said that Black Glass had been sorrowful when taking them down, and gruff yes, but not rude when speaking with them. Black Glass had a motive and an ability, but it didn't seem like she would really become bad when her friend died, torture included. She was far too strong for that to be possible, and the items she had stolen or damaged wasn't pricey-you could find it anywhere.

Starfire's eyes snapped open. You could find those things anywhere, the worst someone could get was a petty thief for taking a couple of napkins and things. Black Glass probably couldn't sell them on the black market if she wanted to, they were next to worthless. The worst was the damage to property and even then, the breaks were all clean. This was just a "big scoop" because of her powers. She hadn't really done anything that bad, her disfigurement and powers the only real difference between her and other cases they had run into.

Before Starfire could wonder any further about her using the unusual phrase "big scoop" in conjunction to Black Glass's case there came a knock came on her door.

"Come in! Come in!" she exclaimed before opening the door for Raven. "Is something wrong friend Raven? You are not as pale as usual, have you had a visit from a mare of the night?"

Raven frowned a little at Starfire's suggestion that she needed a nightmare to put color in her cheeks. The truth was that she did have a nightmare of a sort, but there was still a bit of debate in telling it to Starfire. Casting aside her doubts she explained to Starfire what had happened once she had used her meditation and that before telling Robin she wanted to discus it with Starfire. Starfire found out a unusual connection between the two children after hearing the story.

"It is cute how that they match," Starfire said happily distracted, thinking of the color coordinating between other person's outfit and subsequent person's masks or face.

"Match?" Raven asked worried for her friend's sanity.

"Yes. Her mask is white and gold like his clothes, and her clothes are black with red like his markings! Though, perhaps that is not the case with his eyes being brown," Starfire finished thoughtfully.

"His eyes might have shown red in photos. That or it was cheaper," Raven said absently, thinking on how close the two must have been to coordinate their outfits to each other in such a bizarre way.

"This "Black Cat", she seems a lot closer to what the Titans East said that Sofiya was like. She seems much more innocent and happy at the time of your meeting, if slightly sad. Is that an odd way to speak of it?" Starfire asked slowly in a way that prompted Raven to speak.

"No. She, the girl I meet, wasn't a true person. All of her thoughts feelings and memories, they weren't hers and she knew it. She didn't resent her "real self" though, and that was her own sentiment. The last thing she said to me was that I shouldn't give up on Black Glass because she, Black Cat, existed. That the person I saw outside couldn't be that bad, because she was alive in the only sense she could be. She existed despite anything that could have happened after the girl got on that plane," Raven said softly and a little out of breath with all of the things she had just said.

"At best she may be considered a half-life, or a will of the person who made her memories. I do not someone who is insane or evil could make something like that. Some part of her must still be remediable. I can not condemn someone based on actions they made in fear, nor can I condemn someone who makes an effort to explain themselves and has not yet finished," Starfire stopped for a moment in the sorrow of the child she had not meet but was learning of through Raven, who she gave a quick glance at. She paused for a moment after hearing herself out loud.

"You don't think that she's finished with this yet," Starfire stated finally as a sort of thesis of her friend's story.

"No. She's gone too far to stop herself now. You may want to get some rest. Do you mind covering my shift for guard duty? I'm not sure that I can go and not try to find the little girl I saw. All we can do now is see what she will do."

"Robin would say that we are going in circles," Starfire sighed before hitting her bed and grabbing one of her pillows.

"Circles within circles," said a voice from the doorway.

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed sitting up. Raven had a small frown on her face.

"Hey. So that's what's been happening," Robin said thoughtfully as Starfire walked up to him.

"Raven only wished to discuss it with me before going to you. There is a lot of pressure on you," Starfire said worriedly.

"I'm fine this pressure is nothing compared to stuff the past. You don't have to do guard duty, I'll take care of it myself," Robin had laughed then to dismiss the tension at the time, which did the trick for the most part, even if it was a bit forced.

After that they all talked and tried not to worry about things to much by attempting to find a lost comb of Starfire's that had disappeared with Silky in the room. It latter turned into a full blown chase through out the Tower with everyone trying to keep Silky from getting away with the comb or eating it. Eventually making it so that the Titans East and Teen Titans were forced to crawl through the vents, swim in the ocean, and almost jump off the building to keep both comb and silkworm intact. It was no pressure though, more like the release of pressure at the time.

Current Time

"The pressure is certainly something now," Starfire thought calmly considering the situation.

The Hive 5 had some how escaped deep freeze and were now attacking the tower relentlessly, endangering civilians, and trying to cause chaos around the fortress. The civilian reporters usually ran away but on an island where can you run? With both the Teen Titans and the Titans East working on it, things were beginning to calm down. Unfortunately the infamous moth army led by Killer Moth with a fuming Kitten and annoyed Fang behind him came to join the party, that and Billy Numerous was living up to his name making things only a temporary victory.

Starfire used her eyes to shoot through the barrier around Killer Moth earning her a nice girlishly high scream. It was somehow more rewarding when the one who was emanating from a male of the human species. Many of those moths were innocent creatures after all, and she did not want to do anything to them, their creator was a very different matter though.

"DADDY!"

Starfire winced before working with Aqualad to bring down Kitten, the girl was a class unto herself for loudest screams in history. Kitten's boyfriend then began causing problems for Starfire's boyfriend and things became a little heated between the two of them. The battle was stopped as Starfire began to shake Kitten by the collar while the two of them began to yell at each other bringing up painful and embarsing things from the past. Kitten was mercifully knocked out by Bumble's Stingers before Starfire could finish with her little montage. Starfire blinked before dropping the girl and looking around at the stunned faces and highly excited reporters.

"Ehehe, forgot myself in heat of battle?" Starfire said, embarrassed by her audience for the shouting match between her and Kitten. The fighting then continued, minus the new comers, who were replaced by more Billys. The sheer number of them was overwhelming at the moment, at least while trying to make sure the civilians were safe and not taken hostage. One unfortunate didn't manage to get on a boat fast enough, the poor female journalist was trapped in Mammoth's crushing grip.

Starfire then saw a red version of her fly by and kick Mammoth behind the head, causing him to drop the girl who immediately bolted. Stunned for a moment Starfire looked down at the battle bellow in confusion. Different colors of the Teen Titans and Titans East were joining into fight to tip the scales, for a moment everyone was surprised until it was clear what side that they had chosen. Robin fought side by side with a blue Beast Boy and pink Raven. None of the other colors had their powers though, a fact that the Hive 5 didn't miss.

"Come on this job isn't worth it," shouted Gizmo.

"Job? Destroying the Tower or even capturing it would be useless in the long run. What sort of job would the Hive 5 take that involved our Tower with even more people being able to guard it?" Starfire thought to herself as she secured Kyd Wykkyd's cape in a way that would make it useless to him.

"Dumb girl! Didn't even come out of this dump! I don't see why there's even a-" Billy Numerous was cut off by two swift kicks from Mas e Menos. The extra hands were proving quite handy in the fight, so long as the two groups of Titans didn't end up messing each other's fighting patterns up. It happened on occasion that they would brush shoulders, however as this was the first real fight since the Paris Incident, it was invigorating for all involved.

No crime was always great, but just practicing fights was not enough for heroes. Black Glass had actually helped them practice harder due to her loud arrival in the city. The motive for the Hive 5 was unknown but the fighting styles were still the same as before, a welcome readjustment to the old times. Bad and good old times that seemed to be trying to make a come back. Starfire punched Seemore in the eye, those were the old times that made people afraid to go to out at night. Times that the Titans would work to make sure never came back.

On the whole they seemed to be heading toward that goal perfectly well. Almost everyone was fully pinned down except for a last few Billy Numerous and Gizmo, who seemed to have taken charge of the Hive 5. He pulled out an unusual gun, quickly leveling it at Robin and shooting before anyone had time to think. Starfire stared in horror as the grenade flung itself at Robin. She tried to go toward him but knew she would never make it in time, nor would Raven's spells manage to save him.

The grenade slammed into Black Glass's chest throwing her backwards into the wall with Robin a step an a half away with a surprised look on his face. All of the colored copies of the Titans glitched at the same time losing their shapes and changing into a bright yellow before shattering into their normal triangular pieces of glass. Starfire looked at the blonde girl and her alone thinking, "Why did Black Glass just save Robin?" Black Glass sat up with difficulty to glare at Robin's attempt to bring her to her feet. Gizmo cursed loudly at the new twist. Everyone continued to stare at the events unfolding before them thinking one thing collectively.

_What?_

*There I said it! Burns should be pink! Not black! This is me having after getting a call from reality is trying to keep a little more in touch. There is a way for those burns to be black I think. A logical way that could actually exist but would not be practiced as it is most definitely a form of torture.

Also please review, it really makes my day when someone does review: first I go 0.0 then I go :) after that it's just XD. I'm not sure if I can make anymore faces that will explain how much I like seeing people review. Even if it's just constructive criticism. THAT'S THE POINT OF REVIEWING, officially anyway. XD


	13. Fragmented Life

**This may seem unimportant to the majority of you, but thank you EnyaandEathenyl for reviewing. It made me really happy, I'm afraid your question won't be answered this time. Hopefully this will chapter will answer some questions. One thing though, it is really, really long. At least 5 times longer than my usual stuff. So, be prepared. I've split it up for my own sake. This is ALL flashbacks into Black Glass/Black Cat/Sofiya's life. **

**Enjoy.**

**Chapter 12**

Black Glass stopped for a moment. The villains were down, there was no none holding any hostages. She couldn't relax though. It was now her who held all of the reporters hostage with the time bomb strapped to her chest. By the time she acknowledged this thought walls began to spring into existence around her, wall after wall after wall. The Titans began to try tearing down those walls to reach her. Something clicked in Black Glass's mind once she saw their efforts.

Black Glass's inner monologue- in Bulgarian not English.

Unless I stop my heart from beating, nothing will save these people. Nothing will change, except the fact that they will die unless I die. I've caused these people hell. Every last one of them. I will not be so selfish as to say I am better than them. Not without Himmel. I have to explain myself though. I can't leave them without anything to go on. I can't explain to their satisfaction, I don't know enough English. I can show them what made me do it though, I can show them what happened to the girl I was, Black Cat. I don't want to be Black Glass anymore. I **never** wanted to be Black Glass. I want them to know that at least. I can't go back to Black Cat and I won't go back to Black Glass. This is my selfish last wish- let the Teen Titans know my life. What led me to commit my final act.

The Nameless Orphan's Life, an anonymous production. Directed by Black Cat, Black Glass, Sofiya, and an unknown contributor.

The wider world

The Titans did not know what was going on in the girl's mind. They only saw what appeared to be a dazed look become sad turn hard. The glass was clear for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. They spilled out of her afterwards, all of her thoughts, feelings, and emotions that she had deemed relevant to understanding what she had done. The final product was of a sort curled ball that was layered over and over again with small indents at the top made of a trillion colors. The maskless girl looked at the last person she had ever expected to rush so quickly to her aid: Raven, the girl with no emotion it seemed.

The one she knew next to nothing about was the first one there. It was all sort of ironic, the girl who would need no emotion to use her powers rushed to the aid of the girl with powers that were dominate on the emotions, memories and thoughts. The cat eyed child smiled, even the emotionless might have a heart. The blonde girl smiled at Raven, before pushing the two large pieces of glass that contained her life's biggest questions in them together to stop her heart.

The Teen Titans stopped for a moment. In her last seconds the girl had smiled and took away most of her conscious barriers. It wasn't their duty to let her die in piece though, it was to save her life whether she liked it or not. She had stopped the bomb, now they had to get to her before she died completely. They had three minutes before she was brain dead, time to start anywhere.

Everyone lined up outside of the half-bloomed flower of glass. Before they could debate, or even think on it, they grabbed the glass panes to free the blonde.

Robin's Vision:

A dark alleyway held a solitary figure hunched over with a black jacket covering their shoulders. With a start Robin realized where he was, the alley that they had first been attacked by Black Glass. She was sobbing, the tears spilling down her cheeks unobstructed, muttering something over and over again. The gaping hole where the dead where most likely in residence was just behind her. Before he could walk forward to at least hear her correctly, she screamed, "Himmel! Himmel Astrofengiá! Himmel!" She screamed the real name of her best friend over and over in grief of his dying after months of torture.

Robin recognized the look on her face, it was the one that he had after his parents died. Complete and utter hopelessness; after bottling it up for so long it was like her body betrayed her and started to shake in a seizure. No one came. No one was around to comfort a little, lost, foreign blonde girl who had lost everything and more. "Come back," was the last thing she said after wailing. The weight of her best friend and of the countless hostages she had failed to save on her back, she stood up.

Robin watched as her thoughts became clear to him, not through any deductive powers of his own, but because it was her memory. "I will find that man. I will make sure he goes to hell even if I have to drag him down with me. How could they not come? Why? This is their city, why did they not come to the aid of the people at bank at least? Why do they not know about that evil man? Why?"

She found an newspaper that was recently abandoned by its former owner lying in the garbage. She began to shake with rage. It discussed the Titan's surprise trip to Japan, gossip about him and Starfire, their own little 'vacation'. While she had endured her best friend's death, hell on Earth, and nearly dying under 3 stories of a secret base, they had been on a vacation?! She was suddenly struck by fear, the fear that the Titans she had heard so much about were complete shams. That her best friend in the whole wide world had died trying to seek the advice and instruction of fakes.

Robin had been some she had looked up to, a hero without any powers who excelled. Cyborg was just like them as far as they had cared, he was an outcast and was accepted by them. Beast Boy. Beast Boy was the biggest phony of them all, she had trusted him inexplicably on someone else's word that he was good. Starfire and Raven she didn't know too much about, they were involved though. They were from off the Earth though, so they couldn't possibly understand everything, how bad it was. It wasn't totally going to get them off though.

A drunk college student walked over and tried to talk to her, then swore a blue streak after seeing her burn and turned tail. She scowled, her body was mutilated, and for what? Nothing! Cyborg popped to mind, his body was mutilated as well, but no one ran from him. They celebrated him! She could no longer be 'черна котка' the child that down many a villain while having next to no training. No, she needed a new name, a new face, a new mask to understand what the hell was going on. She looked back into the alleyway and saw a part of the mask that the human underling had worn was lying there.

Robin started at seeing the mask that had disguised the girl for so long. It was on the wrong side of the face to hide the burn but the look of absolute disgust was unmatched on her face to wear the thing. As well as the fear that she would become what had taken away her former self threatened to overpower her. Fear wormed its' way into every thing now and she decide her new name would be an English one. She delicately put on the mask in decent English she said, "Now I am _Black_ _Glass_"_ "_and I will find the Titans and make them pay for letting White Shadow die in their city. After that I will hunt down the man in charge and make sure he will never hurt anyone again."

Starfire's Vision:

Snow. Cold, cold snow filled the streets and enveloped the alleys. The buildings loomed overhead and every window and door was shut against the cold. It shut the little blonde orphan out as well, still a little wet from her dunking in the well. She clutched her blanket to her even closer fearing that if she fell she wouldn't get up she forced herself along. Another child was out in the freezing cold, they had a large white hoodie but with shorts and no shoes made the meager warmth useless. The boy looked up at her, he had an Turk or Arabian look to him, and he held out a piece of stale bread.

The young girl collapsed into the boy's lap, curling up with the blanket over both of them to gnaw at the piece of bread. The two children huddled together behind the garbage can out of the cold day with a bellow 0 wind chill factor. Voices in an unknown language went on behind a closed door with light pouring through the gaps. They didn't seem to care about the boy; they had left outside the warmth of the inside. After several hours the boy turned to the younger girl.

He began speaking in another language that she didn't understand, it was different than the what the adults in the house were speaking in. After seeing how confused she was stopped speaking with a sad face. A man bundled up against the cold opened the door slowly, the conversation had ended. The boy pushed the girl behind the dumpster quickly before the man could come out and see her. She saw him being pulled along roughly by the man. Once they were all at the end of the block she snuck out of her hiding place to follow him.

This was the one person who had been nice to her without questioning her, and someone who people were trying to hurt. She was going to try and stop it. What ever it was. It was an unconscious thought, he was going to be hurt by bigger, stronger, and meaner people so she was going to stop it. She could see everything at night, and people never saw her.

She followed the people dragging the boy she had met into the warehouse district. She had never gone there as a orphan with the church, but she knew it anyways lots of shadows to the human eye. They had never explained anything at the Orphanage-Church, like how to rescue a friend. "Friend," thought the orphan girl. That was the real reason she was saving this person, was because they had become a friend. She was going to save her friend and that was the end of it.

No matter what happened she was going to find her friend. A drain pipe ran half way up the building and just a bit away from it was a window. A window into the place that they had taken him was over that ledge. She decided not to think. If she had to think it would only be of the things she wanted to think. Before she tried to climb she tied the blanket around her shoulders, black side out.

"It can be done. It will be done. To save a friend, I will do it." That was the mantra she repeated in her head as she grasped the cold metal pipe in her small hand. She put a hand on it, after that a foot, then another foot. Slowly she went up the pipe with the wind blowing the blanket around her shoulders to the side. The cat eyed girl squinted in the cold, biting wind, there was no more pipe.

So she reached out to the window while clinging the pipe desperately. Her friend was waiting. Well, maybe he wasn't waiting, but she was coming. If she could just reach the window, she could get in. Her fingers clung desperately to the niche with the window and she put the other one next to it leaning precociously to one side with both of her feet wrapped around the pipe still. She leaned over to the it while pulling herself up inch by inch.

Cyborg's Vision:

Cyborg saw two children sitting on a roof top that was across from a bank that was in the middle of being robbed. He had never seen the kids or the building before but he automatically recognized them as Black Cat and White Shadow, under-aged and unrecognized heroes. They were really young, he didn't know how to process the automatic information that came by seeing them. The girl had eyes like a cat, and the boy was cursed and had legs that allowed him to leap over buildings and break a bone or two if he wasn't careful. They were here to go to stop the bank robbery. The kids appeared to be unworried however, as they were in the middle of a conversation that kept switching languages.

"Do you think the men have a lot of weapons?" asked the girl wearing a white and gold mask while looking at the bank.

"Probably," said a boy wearing a red and black badge looking at the police cars lined up and down the street, the white and blue standing out boldly on the doors and hood.

"Do you think that we might get hurt?" the girl asked nodding to the big building in front of them. Its sky lights were going to be so easy to access from the domed roof with sheer walls.

"Probably," he said stretching out his legs slowly from the lower roof, the sun was high in the sky.

"We're not going to leave though, are we?" she asked with a crocked smile and jaded eyes.

"No. We're going to see this through to the end," he said calmly now looking at the doorway to the imposing building.

"Because there are kids in there, and they are scared," she said with a smile.

Shadow didn't speak at this, only nodded. This was something that the police, while being the best in Bulgaria, would need to use mutants for- getting inconspicuously into high security places like this under legal circumstances. Shadow grabbed her around the waist, it was time to fly and become birds so they could get on top of that building. The floor disappeared and was replaced with open air rushing at their faces. Her hand darted around a spire and she began to hoist the two of them up.

He was now clinging to her back as she scaled the building. The two of them going up to the sky light were just tiny specks that most were not going to look at with a bank robbery below them. The two of them separated at the ceiling window point, now were these people experience in this? Black Cat let her shadow fall on the sky light. Bullets tore through the skillfully made what was basically ceiling window, "All it needed was a little patch job and a very steady workman," she thought.

The ceiling windows were being watched then, it was the perfect route. They picked up one of the roof statues and dropped it in to break the rest of the glass with one dynamic duo to follow. Shadow had his leg extended, it hit the thug that he used as a springboard to put some distance between him and the gun the thug was carrying. He dropped Black Cat in the middle of a group of thugs.

The Black Cat of Sofia took care of things from there. Two swift kicks took down the thugs with guns, which she grabbed from the ground. She held the gun expertly and fired six quick shots. None of them missed their targets of legs, arms, and one stomach, and she promptly dropped the empty gun and spun around to see a tall man taking an pregnate woman hostage.

Black Cat put her hands up. The two thugs she had kicked in the groin had gotten up to restrain her. The man was now speaking.

"So, they send a suped-up child to stop this. Law enforcement has really gone to the dogs in this country. But in a way I guess they've thrown me a bone in a way, they'll be much less likely to shoot if one of their pet powers was in the way. Say were's your friend, the one who's your bitc-" The villains monologue was abruptly cut short as he was miraculously no where to be seen.

Shadow was up in the eves of the building wishing the man would just quit struggling, his legs were strong but not his arms. The guy could get hurt if he lost his grip on him. On second thought though, it was only 20 feet, and Inky need a distraction. He gave her the signal by letting go of the man. When she saw it, Black Cat turned around to look at her captors and smiled. White Shadow lunged himself at the men, changing to meet them leg first mid-air.

"What'd they say Inky?" The boy asked, looking up from his hastily written signature on the head leader's cheek.

"Nothing worth repeating Scribble," the blonde said, closing her stamp case.

A female officer walked up to them critically analyzing the situation. The two children instinctively stepped closer to each other under the brunette's withering glare. She stopped a few feet away from them. She paused for a moment before saying, "Good work today you two. Please join me in the police car. You will get your payment for this service then."

The two children did not relax but they did go to the van. The criminals were loaded up to in the vans and the brunette woman opened up the door for them. The children got in the seats, buckled up and waited for the woman to start driving. Lieutenant Димитров opened up the driver door and began driving and talking to the young heroes.

"You have been attending your fighting classes more often, haven't you? You still aren't branching out though. Don't forget to eat with the money we give you. Your uniform has a bullet hole White Shadow. The two of you still need to get better names, those don't sound very heroic, you're representing the country after all. It's almost winter though, your uniforms will need to be adjusted so you don't completely freeze, being cold will be good for you though.

Here are the newest news segments we could get from the Teen Titans in America fighting villains. These guys are the best, learn from them, memorize their code words, do everything your way but without their mistakes. Also, what on earth is with the two of you doodling on the face of villains? I can't for the life of me understand it, is it some sort of ranking thing between the two of you?" The woman was both giving out orders, asking questions, answering herself, and giving the things she mentioned to the heroes. She finally took a breath before parking the car at a garage.

"So did the two of you learn anything today that wasn't covered in your classes?" asked the female police officer with her legs crossed. Her wallet was open, about to give a check. White Shadow whispered something in Greek to Black Cat. She nodded before turning back to the police officer who leaned forward expectantly.

"If the bad guys want to win, they shouldn't talk so much," Black Cat translated.

Raven's Vision:

Everything was a mash of colors sounds and laughter. This was their day off, the Festivals of Light and Shadow. The colorful banners waved proudly from every window in schools, apartments, and one cow that was definitely not supposed to be here. It was ok, but only for today though. Today was two days before they left the Sofia to train in Jump City and they were going to make the most of it. All of the vendors, shop owners, and street performers were giving their best today in celebration.

The reality is that it was the anniversary of Sofia's founding that the president had thought to make coincide with the new festivals. It had been made in a rush after the incident with the bombing, the mafia and some other supers getting out of control. Then again, in Sofia you could always use an excuse to celebrate with all of the craziness that came around on an almost regular basis.

The food vendors they knew, the man who had given Black Cat her mask, the woman who let them sleep in her basement in the winter, the rookie drag racer; everyone they knew was there cheering alongside the people who had never cared about them for a moment before. The president was going to make his speech in a few moments, time to "Give The People A Show" as he had put it to them before.

The green-eyed savior of Sofia jumped through the balloons that were just now being released at the signal behind the president. The blonde's happy masked face loomed down from the brightly colored balloons as her cape slipped through the gaps. Her hands and arms were upraised like she had seen an American hero, the one in the bat mask, as she fell from the sixteenth story downward. It was fun to see everyone gasp, the people never got to see the move in person. It was ok to fall though, they had a plan.

In the shadow of a nearby gargoyle, her partner waited for the right time to jump. He had made sure that it was one of the newer replacements not an actual antique or some more of those people from the architectural revitalization committee would be mad. Again. She had reached the three quarters point when he jumped out with his arms hooked to catch her. To everyone else's eye it looked like white blur had grabbed their hero midair and shot towards the president's podium.

The two landed silently behind the president and he pretended not to see them. The civilians laughed as the strong and silent White Shadow tapped the president on his shoulder and gestured with a thumb to Black Cat. The president pretended to be surprised before putting his arm out to the children. The masses of people cheered and the president began his speech once the two were alongside them.

"Our light and our shadow! Our saviors many times over have come today in order to celebrate with all of us our city's 1310 anniversary. Thanks to their contribution we have been fortunate enough to stand strong through the many trials we have gone through during these last few years. Now it is our turn to acknowledge these two.

Black Cat- Our sword, and little mountain.

White Shadow- Our shield, and young bird.

The people of Sofia has deemed it time to grant you citizenship of Bulgaria. You will always be welcome." The president finished gravely to the children. The two swelled with pride tinged with sadness. They had lived her their whole lives as outcasts, and now just before they were to leave the country, they would be welcomed when they came home.

Sofia was their home, an home they could come home to when it was all over. When they returned from their training with the Titans, and that was another great thing just to top it off today. In two days they were going to go and meet the TEEN TITANS. This was gonna be the best day ever!

Inky pulled her aside once the speech was over. He was speaking in full Greek with bits of something he said was called Switz.

"I-I know you don't have a name that anyone's given to you. Parents and stuff. I want to tell you the name that the people who raise me gave me, not the people who took me away. It's Himmel. He-mel. I figured I should just tell you. So that if we ever find out what your name is, we can say to others that we trust each other down to the name. Is that ok?"

Himmel was so childish to think that would be not ok.

"Course I'm ok with it. He-mel, huh? What's it mean anyway?" she asked happily. He had finally told her his birth name.

"It means: sky or skyward," Himmel said more relaxed.

"Fits you then! I like it! Sides, we already have a name I can use: Sofiya! Sounds exactly like our city after all. The Titans wont know what hit 'em with the two of us!" Sofiya said excitedly readjusting her mask.

"Not sure that you being 'wise' fits too good though," Himmel laughed.

"Hey!"

Raven saw the two leave the ally then disappear into the crowds enjoying their day.

Beast Boy's Vision:

The blonde girl with a weird cape was talking to ElastiGirl. They were in a church courtyard with a well in the middle of it, and, inexplicably, the Doom Patrol was visiting. It was just before dawn and none of the children were outside but a few nuns and the blonde haired child. She was barefoot in fall, it wasn't cold enough yet to need shoes, but enough to make you occasionally shiver.

"So I can trust any of the Doom Patrol?" the girl asked with big eyes and a tilted head towards the least occupied of the Doom Patrol.

"Yes, anyone of us is completely trustworthy. If you are every in a situation where there is a problem and we are near enough, we will come and help you," ElastiGirl was saying soothingly.

"Even the one that's missing, he doesn't seem trustworthy to me if he gets himself lost like that," said the girl with cat's eyes bluntly.

"His name is Beast Boy. He is trustworthy despite any mistakes he may make. Think of him as a sort of 'big brother', ok? Regardless of his age, he will try to protect anyone in trouble," Elastigirl said

"Big Brother Beast Boy huh?" The girl said thoughtfully. She didn't have much time to ponder this before she saw Scribble waving for her to get a move on. She ran up to him as a boy with green skin and a purple suit had joined the group. They seemed to be happy at his return, that was good. People should be happy to be with a family of their own.

"Scribble" grabbed her around the waist and jumped. She always wondered if he felt the wind tearing at his face like she did whenever they did this. The end was worth the means regardless. There was a particular rooftop that they always went to after they had fought another metahuman or otherwise super powered villain, they couldn't understand how those people could do what they did. They needed a special place to go, for special people like them but were never like them in how they acted.

A special rooftop with a great view of the sunrise that they could watch undisturbed. White Shadow broke the companionable silence first.

"I told the green one about Mary. I don't know why, I just did," he said in broken Bulgarian. "Mary," Cat thought sadly. She had been a runaway, but they had taken her in and they had tried to be heroes together. Her power was to sense people by their smell, she didn't last though. Mary had not been fast thinking enough to do things and it caught up with her. Mary was now in the hospital, her parents and the doctors said that she didn't want to see them anymore.

It was good Mary had gone home though, she had a family who wanted her to be there too. They were sad she had left, but glad that she was home. They couldn't take anyone else though, not unless they showed that they were able to think fast. Maybe when they were older and things were different they could afford to have other people fight with them but not now. Now the sun was coming up and the world was going to change from night to day as they changed people from good to bad.

"Sun, Mr. Sun. Dispel the darkness of night. Let the sun come to the world to resume his reign with heat and light. Let's make the darkness go away for another day. Making the world a better place than yesterday," the blonde girl sang out to the dawn. The skyline was far from perfect, but it seemed natural. The big sun was coming up to light another day for warmth and comfort, banishing the cold night. This was the time were pickpockets were at their worst though, so they couldn't stay long.

Neither the sun nor crime would wait.

Reality:

Robin gasped to find himself holding the glass sized to a big window. It had only been a second it seemed since he touched it. He shook his head, he had to keep moving, that girl was being stubborn about this whole mess. Now he knew though, how she felt about them. Her most respected heroes had turned out to be complete shams as far as she knew and because of that her best friend died. He knew what he would do in that case, find out what the hell was wrong with the people who had killed her best friend.

You can't just go as a blathering mess though or else everyone will dismiss you as hysterical. There was a reason she had put on that mask, to challenge them. To find out what had gone wrong. To give her partner at least a shot of remembrance. To not let yourself be forgotten. It was selfish, it was truly respected her for that.

That she had gone to an extreme in order to find out the truth that resulted in her friends death. It was noble even if she had chosen the wrong way, he understood her despise of the Titans, as the people who should have been there but hadn't. He decided when it was all over, he was going to give her friend and all of the citizens that died underneath the city a proper monument. He was going to make sure that he found them, every body in that morgue and given them a name on a stone.

Starfire awoke from the half dream still wondering if the child had gotten through the window in time to save the friend she had just meet. It wasn't like how Raven or the Titans East had described it though. She wasn't apart of the girl, but she had felt the biting wind and the strong cold. The color of the building wasn't that of a fairy tale but gray and bleak, the ice on the building was a light very blue, and the snow was white. She understood another part to the girl that she did not know of before. To this girl a friend's life was as important as her own life, she would risk protecting them against all odds.

Her face softened. Maybe that was why, even without all of the things that Raven and Robin and the Titans East had said discounted, she had spared Beast Boys life. Beast Boy was their friend and anyone on the Teen Titans would have risked their lives for, it was like that for all of them. It was no wonder that the loss of this boy had hurt her so badly, he was her team, her friend. Maybe even he was the only one in her life like that. He was definitely the boy that Raven and the Titans East had seen, before the curse though, without any of the markings on him.

Cyborg started for a moment in mime of pulling away a door. She wasn't a villain, at least not always, once she had been a hero. She had people who looked out for her and she was a hero for crying out loud, just looking at her was enough to say that. He hadn't really believed the others when they said that she was once a hero or that they thought as much.

Beast Boy nearly sat down in shock once the memory was over. She had been told that he would help her, that she could turn to him as a sort of a big brother, and he had let her down. She had targeted him above all of the rest, because she had seen him once, she was the most disappointed in him. She had been told she could trust him, and he failed.

He remembered the strange boy though from when he was lost when he was little. It was shortly after the Doom Patrol had adopted him. This was still his fault for letting her down, he never knew yes. Did that mean that just because he had never known he had a sister that he still wasn't her brother? It was like saying adopted siblings weren't siblings. He had an expectation to live up to now, a little sister to save.

Raven stopped for a moment. Instead of witnessing something that wasn't something a kid should have experienced, Raven had seen what was most likely this girl's happiest memory. The one time where nothing went wrong, the best day ever she had stored in this one pane of glass. It was... touching. The girl who they saw as nothing but a villain and a human weapon sometimes had this memory. This memory that didn't explain the actions she had taken.

It explained that she was human though, that was something that so many people were willing to over look. Her happiest memory... if she didn't make it, Raven could say that at one point she wasn't evil or insane. A happy child, that didn't come around so often. It was the last thing that she had expected. Just two days before the worst day in her life, she had her best.

No one was going to say that she deserved to die. It was time to get serious.

*Finished with the chapter. Sorry for the people who have been waiting for this to go on. It took me a while but you see now why? I tried writing this and the next chapter at the same time. This is more about her past in Bulgaria then her feelings on the present which will be covered next chapter. Did you like it or hate it? Tell me please if you stopped half way through. I can separate it if you guys want that into a East and West chapters. Most of my opinions were said in the thoughts of Titans. Yours can be said in the reviews! Please speak up. REVIEW!


	14. Fragmented Life pt 2

****I'm sorry. I didn't write for two months straight because of huge writers block. So, I decided to write a ton to put the fanfiction to about the midway point (No this is not that point. That point is about three chapters ahead.), there will be a fic that happens after that point with about a two month time gap until part two of this fic. I am almost done putting the build up to the "6th season" together. You thought that this was just an OC fic didn't you? I am going to explain the importance of them coming in and get on the real route. That I haven't thought that much about at all... I guess this was more of a OC fic than I realized.****

**Now since you have read this far and dealt with my absence.**

**Enjoy.**

**Chapter 13**

Bumble Bee's Vision:

The blonde girl rushed over to the boy lying on the ground with a bullet in his head. "No. No. No. No. NO!" she muttered in Bulgarian over the darker skined boy. The robbers pulled her up roughly by the arm. Her large sunglasses dropped off revealing her large green eyes. They began to say something in English with weird accents.

"Damn it! The boss wants lots of metas and we killed one. Luckily, he might just overlook it if we bring him back the blond. Cat eyes. Those are pretty rare, right?" asked the one with the gun pointed at Himmel.

"Yeah, who knows how much other junk she could have hidden away. Faster healing, maybe even complete regeneration," commented the man who had the gun pointed at the civilians.

She couldn't protect them. Without Himmel there was no way she could avoid all those bullets and keep the hostages alive. She'd have to wait until they were in the get-away vehicle to make her move with Himmel-.

Himmel, they were going to leave him there! He could still be alive! He had to be alive. Somehow he had to be alive. Somehow. somehow," she thought to herself while being dragged by the men. One of them stopped and shouted at the man who had shot Himme in English. Why was she using Himmel's name so much?

"Man, don't leave the corpse there! It could be used as evidence! There may be something left that the boss could use. We killed him, but the boss will be more mad if we don't let him have something to do with himself and his pet scientist," said the one dragging a old woman to a van.

"That guy gives me the creeps. Besides, didn't we get the blonde for that?" whined the younger guy with a goatee.

"Dude just go along with it. She'll blab the first time he pulls out the pliers. No fun for him. Who knows how much we can get out of the Titans if we send the head one of their new additions," said a third man with long eyelashes.

"Titans aren't in town. They may not even know these runts," gripped one with the goatee that had a to go back and get Himmel's- no just Himmel for now.

"We'll get ransom some other way then. Maybe just sell her on the black market, the cute ones always go for more," snickered Mr. Lashes.

The first guy rolled his eyes as the other members of the gang waited impatiently to leave. He threw Himmel over his shoulder and they proceeded to walk out guns raised in defiance to the police. A group of vans pulled up and the men loaded the loot in. Himmel was dumped on top of her and another female hostage. They tied her up while the rest of the hostages were allowed to go without.

Ow. Ropes hurt.

"You can't be dead Himmel! You can't just die on me! Get up! This might just be the worse thing we've dealt with but don't die on me. You can't die on me. We just got here. We need to save these people!" Sofia whispered frantically to Himmel in Bulgarian.

A old lady looked at her pityingly, the girl was trying to forget the fact that Himmel was dead. Poor thing. she wasn't speaking English so the boy had been her translator. She needed him to be alive, he had to be alive. this couldn't happen, life was hell but together they could deal with things. She couldn't do anything alone, everything that she had to put the civilians out of danger and the bad guys nabbed depended him. For anything to work it all depended on them to work together, an inseparable duo.

They had been through too much for him to die. If one goes they all go. What had just happened, was that Himmel was irreversibly gone. Cat began to cry. She hadn't cried like this since the day she wound up at the church, alone, cold, without any real memories, and her mother she didn't even remember hadn't come. It was those kinds of tears.

The kind when you know you've lost everything.

Aqualad's Vision:

The room was too dark to see anything well. It was a vast hall or a cavern, just a room wouldn't be enough, it was just so big and empty with a ceiling that was too high to climb up to. It was empty except for the pillar or plinth that she was chained to with heavy bonds that did not rust. All around her were bodies, and in the corner a furnace. She tried to distract herself with anything and everything that did not have to do with that room that her eyes saw with a perfect vision that she didn't want right now.

The sky, big and blue, night or day it was never a pure black that was scary in its absoluteness like this ceiling was, no don't think of that ceiling. The grass, warm and soft, always having a feeling of tranquility to it even if she rarely saw it. .

Everything started at the Orphanage. Everything started in the Winter, when it was at it's coldest, and there was no warmth at all. Everything started in that basement Underground, where they had hurt Himmel-forever changing him. These things just keep repeating themselves, an endless loop. Different people constantly fitting the pattern. First it was Himmel and me, now Himmel is gone, "I must fill in the gaps."

The Teen Titans is nothing but the orphanage for young heroes without a way. The Winter stays the same, cold and biting no matter where you go. I am now in Himmel's place, to be changed beyond repair, but there is no Himmel to replace me as the finder of the broken. I'm alone now at another underground orphanage plagued by winter.

Why does everything start in winter?

I meet Himmel in winter, twice. Once in the shady alley where we hid from the wind and the adults. Then in the dark underground hallway that stretched on forever. I followed him from the alley to the place. I climbed up a drain pipe and struggled through a window to meet him. A bunch of adults were in a circle on the floor, and I did not want to go there. Something came out of the strange drawing they had made in red, it wasn't human and it wasn't a monster. It was like I had scrawled on air with a language that I didn't know, the thing only imitated shape.

Then I saw the other people. These people weren't helping with the drawing-creature, they were scared of it. When the monster just left black writing on the floor and walls. One of the people was dragged to the middle of the diagram, I instinctively knew better than to stay and watch. A man opened a door with a staircase while dragging a boy with him; I rushed after him without thinking.

Dropping out of the window to the shelf below, then running to the door. Somehow the people didn't catch on and I ran through. There were a lot of stairs going down and down. Finally it evened out, showing a long space filled with cells. Kids, or inky things that resembled people in some cases, were inside them with their heads down. I kept walking toward the end of the hall way.

I saw the boy I had met being tossed into a cell by the guard. Once the man walked away with his flashlight I snuck up to the cell, it really helps when people can't see in the dark. He was in the corner, still standing up, his expression one of apathy. I picked the lock with ease, all of the orphans learned quickly and I'm a quick study. I walked up and gave him a hug hello, he seemed to need it. All along his face there was trails of writing that wouldn't come off no matter how much I rubbed at it, and it just kept moving away from my blanket edge.

Footsteps began from down the hall way getting louder and louder, the man was coming back. I think it became obvious then that I wasn't going to get the ink off his face, none of it had even gotten on my blanket. He pushed me to the shadows, or at least what I think were the shadows that he could see. It's hard to tell with cat eyes were dark places are supposed to be.

Either way I kept away from the glaringly bright oval of light on the ground and followed them up again. Just before the door way I made an executive and really dumb decision: tackle the guy. If the element of surprise hadn't been on my side he probably would have just hit me on the head or killed me and that would be that. I tackled the guy on the last turn on the staircase before the door.

I didn't think it would actually work.

It wasn't due to me for the most part though, turned out that the weird writing managed to the make his legs better than possible. He kicked the man and down the man crashed on every stair. Other people came in and they fought them. They became battered, bruised, and exhausted but they kept at it. Finally the people had stopped coming. They had walked out and-

Plip. Plop. Plip. Plop. Plip. Black Cat was shook out of her forced reminiscence to protect her sanity by the sound of something coming closer. It was the white monster that sometimes changed its shape, behind it was always something more monstrous. The torturer that wore a white mask.

Speedy's Vision:

"What am I doing? This doesn't feel right," she thought while sneaking towards the opponent with a red bandanna. The ring was surrounded by an uplifted wooden platform amphitheater cheering people betting their savings away on convicts or crafty children that sometimes had powers. Busty waitresses in skimp dresses served bear and cigarettes to the men in the stands who placed money on the paddle a man in a blue suit held out to them, the same waitresses that gave them old milk and little bread and the same man who beat the with that paddle. Tonight was what the people that didn't fight called "a good night".

If you fought then there was no such thing as a good night, every night was hell. Some nights were worse than others, like this guy was about to feel. The blonde child felt the slightest bit of remorse for what she was about to do, sometimes the adults weren't convicts but just men trying to bring home enough to feed their own children. She then scolded herself on being so weak, and decided that a clean cut up his leg would work. Her knife was dull but it worked make sure the match was finally called; if you won a match, you got more food. If you didn't win, you were beat.

If you were beat by the opponent, you would die.

The crowd let out a roar of approval for those who had bet on her. To others the light would have seemed weak, dim and smoky; well, it was smokey just not dim or weak. The man in the blue suit snapped, and the red bandanna guy was pulled out of the ring. He glared at the blonde with his hand poised to snapped again; she dropped the knife. The bandanna tied around her head was slipping and she pulled it up while he yanked her hand into the air.

"To the Black Cat of Sofia!" He shouted at the men and woman in the club. Regardless of bets people cheered. The underdog had won, that was always a nice surprise to many of the visitors. Some of the regulars knew that the man had been the underdog in this darkly light fighting ring. She was escorted out by two large guards where the man's large grin turned into a mean sneer, she held out her arms straight in front of her to be cuffed.

The muscle cuffed her and led her down the many cells underneath the top of the bar. Dust began to coat her from the shaking floorboards above, children in other cells looked out at her with scared eyes, down to the second to last cell. One of the muscle pushed her towards a woman that handed her two cups of watery milk and a half a loaf of bread. Apparently the match had been good for the spectators, two glasses of milk meant that they acknowledged the fact that Shadow and her shared food.

Shadow, in addition to being hand cuffed, also had his ankles cuffed and bolted to the ground after being weighted down with large heavy metal balls. Despite this when he heard the cell open and saw her standing there he gave a weak smile. They put the children in weird costumes to make them stand out, hers: a pair of black leggings, black shorts, a red vest, and a black bandanna; his: a white hoddie, gray sweat pants, thin shoes that they replace every once in a while, and a white bandanna.

She sat down next to him and held out the milk, helping him to drink it. She set her own glass aside for later, breaking apart the hard bread, dunking it into the last remnants of the milk, and then feeding him it. She gulped down the last of the milk and ate a little of her bread.

"Next, for your entertainment we will bring three people and two beasts into the fight: the murderer JACK BARON, the arsonist LISA BROWN, the wolf Beo, the bear Wern, and finally the boy who we found in Egypt-cursed beyond all recognition-our," the man paused for a breath and a bit of yelling to die down, "WHITE SHADOW!"

"See you soon Scribble," the cat eyed girl said. The men began to undo the chains on him one by one.

"See you soon Inky," the cursed boy replied. The cheering would drown them out soon enough.

Hopefully, they would make it out alive. If one of them went away they both would die, after all, it's too damn hard to survive hell on your own.

Mas's Vision:

Down in the cellar of whatever it was used for, currently held a melancholy blonde in a large black jacket sulking on her thin cot. It was weird to be alone, nothing to do, no one to talk to or about, nothing around her in a way that would allow for something to be.

"Alone. I really, really hate being alone," Black Glass thought. Living for revenge didn't fill anything, Himmel was still gone, no contacts to learn what the heck happened, the only people who could tell her anything would be the Titans. She couldn't just waltz up to the people that let Himmel get killed on their watch, and even if they were away someone should have been there. She sat up suddenly.

Who would have been there if the TEEN Titans weren't? That was an obvious answer, they had called someone in to fill their shoes before- The Titans EAST. The Titans East would have been there to look over things, it wasn't a one-team five-member show, there were plenty of people who could and would have been called in if they weren't there. Not one of them had been there that day, using the excuse of not knowing the city wouldn't work. Himmel and her had figured out plenty of maps before, even the ones in English!

There was no reason whatsoever that they wouldn't have back up. She understood why he didn't move, there had been a kid behind him no way would either of them move if another kid was in danger. They thought that they would have back up though, and they were left to fend for themselves. That here they wouldn't be alone in the fighting. She couldn't just try to talk to the regular Titans. If the Titans East were coming nearby though... That was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

She walked over to the "My-Phone" that she had pilfered from the remains of her imprisonment. It was hard to opperate as it only had English, French, Spanish, and German. There was one app on it though that had been heavily used by the blonde: ScanTrans. An app that allowed documents such as pictures to be scanned and translated into Bulgarian or any other language.

Online there were many articles about the the Titan's Fourth of July Party they were having to show that they weren't scared of anything that Black Glass could throw at them. All it took was a couple of taps and she was good to go. The Titan's Tower had a ton of glass and a generator on the roof to cut the power as shown in the safety procedures that had been posted for the media and special guests of the evening's safety.

Google Search: Titans East Members

Bumble Bee: Leader of the Titans East. Meta human. Powers include flight, super strength, and the ability to change size at will. Fights with two yellow "B" shaped electrocuting "stingers". Highly Athletic and smart. Trivia: Only Female Member. Speculated to be in a relationship with Herald (Honorary Teen Titans Member).

Speedy: Member of the Titans East. Human. No superpowers, instead fights with a bow and variety of custom made arrows that can explode, pierce armor and reel in those that have been shot. Former side-kick of Green Arrow. Highly Athletic though vain. Trivia: In many fanfictions has been paired up with Aqualad as a love interest. Has been compared and mistaken for Robin of the Teen Titans many times by passers by. Also has quite a few commercials for various health products.

Aqualad: Member of the Titans East. Meta human/Atlantian. Has the power to communicate to aquatic animals through telepathy, breath underwater, and make girls fall in love with him on the spot unconsciously. No weapons. Trivia: In the Titans East he alone is allowed to leave for weeks on end in order to deal with Atlantian criminals.

Mas y Menos: Members of the Titans East. Twin brothers from Guatemala. Mas is the younger twin, and Menos is the older twin. The two are meta humans that can super speed at several times the speed of sound, but only when they are touching. Can only speak Spanish. Have been hinted at being able to sense the whereabouts of the other twin in interviews.

Google Search: Abandoned Theme Parks in Jump City.

The Water Park: an old Theme park on the waterfront that has now been turned into a haunted house for Halloween.

Menos's Vision:

"Shadow? When does he think anyways? He hurt himself, he can't fight crime. That's the rules! We came up with that a long time ago," Black Cat muttered angrily, as she pulled the curtain of their lean-to away.

White Shadow was on the ground and sweating with lots of red spots all over him. The curse wasn't helping matters but coming to life at the worst possible moments, increasing his pain. This was really bad, it wasn't like this when she went out to get bread and soup from the kitchen down the street. Cat crumpled to the ground next to him for a moment, dropping the bread. She had enough presence of mind to keep all of the soup off the floor, or most of it anyways.

She set the two food items out of the way and ran out side. There had to be some tourist that would have pity on a blonde girl and come with her to the poor district to help her friend. Damn it! What was the odds she'd find someone both capable and foolish enough to follow her and get White Shadow to help? Unless she made them help.

A tall blonde foreigner in a suit was waiting at a vendor selling moussaka. First she tried to pull on his sleeve, he brushed her off while looking at the potato pastry hungrily. Then she yanked his wallet out of his hand when he tried to pay the man. That lead to a chase that went through entirety of Bulgaria's poor district, even in a suit that man was fast.

She climbed up a fire escape and jumped over a few buildings. She landed near a roof entrance before turning to face him.

"Why did you steal my wallet?" Steve Trevor asked perplexed and panting on the roofs in the poorer districts of Sofia. The blonde that didn't fit in with the city had was standing outside a makeshift lean to with a curtain for privacy.

"You come, foreigner. Yes you. Help. Shaso," the girl said in broken English with a heavy Bulgarian accent.

"You could have just asked," Steve Trevor said calmly. The girl grunted while trapping her foot, her impatience getting across the language barrier. He resigned himself to helping her with the knowledge that if a street kid walked up to an outsider they needed help really bad. Steve swore when he saw the boy named Sasho, this was something that public health officials in America might call ground zero.

He picked the boy up and let himself be lead down the rooftops. She pushed people past and ran back at traffic lights to anxiously look at the boy. They didn't belong very well in the city but they worked together with it in such a way that it made everyone else seem to be an outsider. He let himself be lead though the town to the hospital. The lobby wasn't packed and they managed to push and shove their way to the front. The receptionist took one look at the girl's ragged form and sighed.

"Sweetheart, we can't treat every cut and bruise that you bring in from your vigilante expeditions. Shouldn't you two be in school by now anyways?" the receptionist said in Bulgarian to the blonde girl, typing away at her computer.

Well that just wasn't going to work, as Menos could see from an outsiders standpoint, when the man slammed his fist down in a quick motion. Startled, the receptionist looked up at the sharply dressed man who showed her the critical condition the boy was in along with a strong American accent and badge. The receptionist paled and pressed a button, rapidly speaking into the phone line. The strange man looked down at her and gave her a smile and a thumbs-up. The blonde was quiet for a moment until she gave a huge smile and a thumbs up back.

"Work on your accent kid and you can do that sort of thing. Grammar isn't taken all that seriously," advised the dirty blonde man in front of her. He left to argue some more with a nurse. Shadow was being wheeled away by doctors and nurses. She abandoned the odd man and ran to stay near him. There came a point when they put him in something called, 'карантина'. The weird American swore when he heard the translation and some other colorful language in English, he and her were walked into the room where they had put Inky.

Steve sat down with a sigh. He was stuck in quarantine on a diplomatic mission with two children that barely spoke English, one of which probably wasn't speaking at all. How to kill time without wanting to kill himself? The blonde girl at least looked like she could speak a little English, time to show her how to speak American English. First rule of getting by in another country. Eliminate all traces of an accent.

The suited man whistled to get her attention off the boy. The cat eyed girl in a white and gold mask turned to him. "You want to learn a little English? It will help you," Steve said. Suddenly, she grinned knowingly with her eyes dancing.

"I know: Mother F*****!"

"Lets start with how to say your name, we can get into curses all you like latter. I think it's something you would be taught either way," Steve muttered the last part under his breath wondering who taught a little blonde girl the F-bomb. He then realized that his little swear fest for the idiot doctors was copied and pasted into the 7 year-old's vocabulary. Diana was going to kill him for corrupting the youth of another country. Yet, another country... How to explain this mess.

Reality

Bumble Bee shot up with surprise at waking up then scowled. Those men were not going to get away. Human trafficking was one of the worse things you could possibly do, by both moral and law standards. Black Cat didn't have an inkling of English to her name, but her memory was good. Clear as crystal, if those men were found somewhere, she would be there. Even without knowing English, it made the Titans seem incompetent to anyone who wasn't in the know.

That was a betrayal of everything that the Titans were supposed to stand for. Why weren't they informed of this? The police records should have shown something for this. By now this should have turned up, unless the police were corrupted.

Speedy jerked away from the plane of glass desperately. Black Cat apparently wasn't such a good name after all, nor was White Shadow without malice to it. This explained why and where she had learned to fight though. What could have happened to that kid to wind up in a dog-fight illegal combat arena? More importantly though, how did she get out?

Her friend and her didn't look like they would be leaving anytime soon by the glimpse he saw. The archer scowled at the memories that he had experienced via the glass. If he ever had a kid, he was **never** letting them up for adoption. One life lesson that had been proved just about a hundred times over by this girl. A parent is needed to make sure that kids don't get screwed over.

Aqualad came to with one desperate thought, it all starts in orphanages. He blinked when he realized that he was no longer underground about to be tortured. It felt like he was in her skin. She was trying to become lost in her memories, but he was the one left in her skin shivering at the damp, cold air. It had been hazy, as she had been trying to fill in the details as she recalled what happened so long ago.

He had no idea what the monster or the torturer was, he knew that they deserved whatever they had coming. If it was coming from him, her, the law, or something else he wasn't so sure. The amount of fear that he had felt when that man had come in was like she had been murdered or raped. If that guy had raped her, he wasn't getting away. Sofia had been like a neglected little kid, wandering around the house looking for someone to talk to at the island. Hurting little kids were his limit.

Mas suddenly felt a pang after he was released from the vision. She hadn't meant to hurt them even in the beginning. It was to see how people would react, how to test what the Teen Titans had chosen to be apart of their group, and where to set the bar. All that planning, it was really quite impressive to be honest. Lots of villains didn't plan, or when the plan goes awry, they don't get up after the fight either.

How did all of that information get online though? Maybe Aqualad's and Speedy's fanbases had gone a little overboard. She made very few mistakes, and thought things out, didn't give up until her leg was broken. If she was going to be rehabilitated then they'd have set some rules on when she was allowed to fight. If she did become a hero again, then she wouldn't be fighting for at least a few weeks.

Menos jerked awake, that hadn't felt like a second or two, that had covered hours. Footsore. Nervous. Hours. Not knowing is the worst when it comes to your family. It was a little ironic though, she was worried about him fighting with injuries, but over the course of a few days she had managed to get into a worse position. Broken leg, multiple scrapes, not sure about infections at the moment, but that didn't excuse it.

Menos nodded to himself. Family is family, and if she didn't go to jail then she was going to be apart of his and Mas's surrogate family: The Titans. That is if Robin didn't persist in being a stick in the mud like he had one up his. Oh, got to tell Mas about this.


	15. Back in Black

**Ok, we are no longer serving flash-backs after this point in the fanfiction. After this it will all be straight up storyline. I promise. I will also be getting rid of the OC at the end.**

**Chapter 14**

The girl was still in her self-made prison, now there was only one wall of memories left, a giant conglomeration of memories that seemed to be in extreme focus. The last thing they had to break through in order to revive the girl that they had shared memories with.

Robin's Last Memory:

They really did not know how to keep a girl tied up. Black Glass moved some of the fiberglass from the elevator buttons to the outside of the cell door. This was really too easy to envision the glass forming a sharp knife and cutting through the door handle. A vivid imagination will do wonders for a girl with the ability to manipulate some form of matter. Black Glass stood up and pushed the door open. The glass readjusted itself to form a small platform like a stool for her to sit on, taking the weight off of her foot.

She waited for the ding of the elevator to finish before punching in her destination, the top floor. From there she could see how they were doing, if this was something she really needed to get involved in. She could play the "tied up prisoner" game a little while longer if it meant that she got some help. American Health Care was a nightmare if the rumors about having to pay for just a check up were true.

The button beeped long and loud startling her out of her reverie. She floated out on her piece of glass she was using as a chair, with the other buttons's glass joining the panel beneath her. She glided over to the edge and let her self fall down, collecting the rest of the glass along the wall before stopping herself three stories above the ground. There seemed to be a pink blur arguing with Starfire on the ground level and the battle seemed to be at a lull with the two of them arguing in English, such a confusing language.

For the most part the Titans appeared to be doing rather well. Two people were under crowd control towards the edge, one that seemed to be a red and yellow blur, and some girl in a black dress. The rest of the Titans had resumed fighting and were going towards loosing their original edge. Some of the civilians were being terrorized again by the multiplier that appeared to be getting out of hand, this is when things called for an intervention.

Black Glass took a deep breath in. This would be difficult, but efficient. All of the studying she had done with Shadow studying the Titans movements and abilities would have to pay off now. The glass broke up into to copies of the Teen Titans separating all of the mixed emotions she was feeling. She hadn't seen any tapes of the Titans East and decided not to risk imitating them. She hid herself behind a rock on the ground to better oversee the copies. It was exhausting trying to keep up with all of those copies to make them seamless if she wasn't near by.

Most of the people were captured and safely away except for the cloner, and the code-junkie. The bald boy was pulling something out of his jacket pocket. Something that was deffinitly not friendly looking and aimed at the leader of the Teen Titans, the guys who like it or not was her best chance at finding out what happened. She did something completely irrational then, for the guy she despised most of all the Titans, jump in the way, probably saving his life. Maybe she was still a hero after all.

A Brief moment of Reality:

Everyone took a breath, they all had to see this one together- of that it was no debate. A quick check over their shoulders to make sure no one had escaped from the glass prison, time hadn't moved an inch since they viewed those memories. Most mental links took time to establish and to go inside of, this girl was providing exception to every case that they had gone into. The final shell separating her and the outside world was proof of her extraordinary abilities

That being said, she would also have to be the rare case to resist brain damage after cardiac arrest as a minute and a half had passed already.

The clock was ticking.

The Last Memory:

"What will they think when they realize that I've died with all of this inside. It's far from all of it. Just the few things I can do before this thing explodes. They're probably just blurs of feelings and thoughts, it's so rushed. They really shouldn't be trying to rescue me, what if this thing explodes and everyone gets injured? After all I did to stop the bomb from getting to Robin. He and the others might have a chance at piecing everything together and catching HIM.

I just wanted to know what on earth had made the Titans so oblivious to what was going on in their own city. I can't believe I did this, told them what happened through out my life. It doesn't feel right to do this, but I need to do it anyways. I'm going to die so they need something to put on my tombstone anyways.

I don't regret doing a thing, except, maybe doing this. Blabing my entire life story to some people I barely know and definitely don't trust. This is the only thing I might regret, recording my thoughts like this. They're all running toward me now, even Raven. Kind of funny isn't it? That the girl who is polar opposite to me in our powers would want to save me. Then again, she's the only one who went directly in my mind, it was really frightening but maybe I'm biased. Good-bye everybody sounds bad if you don't say hello first, so:

Hello Everybody.

Good-bye.

Find out about the group that kidnapped and tortured me, OK? Not just for my vengeance and everything, but because you guys really need to get back on your game.

Bye.

The Clear, Cold Reality:

As soon as the last barrier was removed, the team went to work resurrecting the fallen hero. Cyborg began to operate on removing the bomb safely. It had stopped ticking the moment her heart stopped, so at least one part of her plan had worked. 2 minutes since initial cardiac arrest.

He handed the bomb to Speedy who attached it to an arrow that he let out towards the water, before sending another arrow chasing after it. The bomb exploded mid-air over the water with a big boom. 2 minutes and a half since initial cardiac arrest.

Mas y Menos rubbed themselves back and forth against each other to create a make-shift defibrillator. 2 minutes and forty-five seconds since initial cardiac arrest.

They tried once, then again, and finally a third time. Black Glass shot up with the glass around her shooting out in every place. She began to pant, clutching her chest. Her eyes were extremely dilated and her body tensed up beyond belief. Then again, wake up from the dead with your enemies surrounding you would make any one with an slight inch of self-preservation in them freak out.

"You're ok now. We aren't going to hurt you. We. Understand," Raven said, pushing herself forward in the group. She touched Black Glass's forehead and sent a wave of feeling to the frightened girl to reassure her of her intentions.

"разбирам?" Black Glass looked curiously up at the half-demon with big eyes.

"Yes," Raven said before relapsing into silence.

The air hung quietly as the fate of the young girl was to be determined. Was she going to be asked to join the Titans, or forced into a high security jail somewhere. It all relied on what the leader and founder of the group was going to say. Robin was deep in thought. Everyone had some part of her story, not the whole, just the segments. The few he had seen had both confirmed what his instinct was on this case.

Robin took out his bo staff and drew a line in the sand separating the girl from the rest of the team.

"All in favor of accepting former villain Black Glass into the Teen Titans as an honorary Titan at the T-Tower, please cross the line onto the side of Black Glass." Before Robin could finish his sentence the Guatemalan twins had already switched sides. The rest of the Titans soon followed with a smile offered to the girl in turn. Robin was the only one left on the other side.

"Do you want to be a Titan Black Glass?" Robin asked smiling at Black Glass. She had so much potential.

"No," the shocked look on everyones faces forced her to explain some more, "Not Black Glass. I do not want to... _be_ Black Glass. I... can not be Black Cat. I need a name...that is not Cat or Glass. Not always afraid. Not black as...dark. Names...are...powerful," she slowly pronounced each word with exaggerated care and many pauses. Starfire was the first to respond.

"I understand. Names are very powerful. My name in my native language is Kori'and'r," Starfire said as a sort of reintroduction.

"Kori." The adorableness to this innocent nickname simply overloaded the sentimental Starfire or "Kori".

"You will be my little sister, and I will be your big sister. And you will never have to worry about me wanting to destroy you or the Earth or any other planet, or stealing your friends-ever. We will do make-overs and go to the mall of shopping, and if you ever decide you have the feelings for any boy, I will do what ever I can to make sure that your feelings are requited, and you do not puzzle over it for some time unknowing what to do. And, and, and" Starfire had to be forcibly removed from Kalico as more injuries tended to happen when Starfire got hugging excitedly.

"Have you thought of a different name then, you don't want to go by Black Glass any more,"

"...Kalico." The short, quiet phrase came out like a breath of hope.

"Calico? C-a-l-i-c-o?" Cyborg asked, spelling was very important.

"No, K-a-l-i-c-o. C Calico and Kaleidoscope. Kalico," the newly revived hero said.

"Where did you hear about Kaleidoscopes?" Aqualad asked with a puzzled frown, most people didn't just think of that off the top of their heads if they spoke English as a second language.

"Online add. Thought was, fun-e?" the newly dubbed Kalico said with a shy .

"Hey we can shorten it to Kali, like the state were in!" Beast Boy said with a huge smile promoting groans from the rest of the team.

The silence of the Titans all pointed to how much that might be considered a bad thing considering the fact that California was known for being a little bit towards the edge of normal. That was partly why so many villains came to Jump City, to either be accepted or just captured. That being said, there were a few things that need to be cleared up on that front as well. The group turned to the Hive 5 who had been thoroughly secured by Jinx and Kid Flash, who had been more on damage control

"Why did you come after Kalico?" Bumble Bee jumped the gun before Robin could ask the question, she did so with her customary hands on her hips move that broke no argument.

"Look, we had to repay a favor. Someone got us out of deep freeze and asked us to do a small job in return. That someone wanted a cute little girl with blonde hair, green cat eyes, and burns on her and gave us a little picture to match. Get it?" Seemore asked exasperatedly.

"Who?" Robin pressed the Hive 5 members for answers.

"The guy has a rep for taking in kids to-" Gizmo began in order to get it through their thick skulls.

"Wait. Doesn't she kind of look like the guy took over Cinderblock," Mammoth asked suddenly with outany warning at all.

"Jericho? What does he have to do with any of this? He wouldn't put a bounty on her. He didn't know anything about her when we asked him," Robin said, assured in his reasoning.

"Ever asked who your pal Jericho's daddy was?" Seemore said with a chuckle. It was common knowledge to the worlds dark side some of the world's greatest heroes had not so clean parentage. Just look at Raven.

"Stop playing games," Speedy spat out venomously.

"Fine, our contractor said that his symbol was etched onto her, and sends his deepest apologies on that account. His words exact, promise," a Billy Numerous clone said easily.

"Wouldn't have accepted the contract if what she might be is true. He usually likes to collect his side kicks himself. If what we heard about your pal Jericho was true, we coulda gotten a lot more than just 456 K," Billy Numerous said to one of his other selves.

"Her face just has a burn on it, it doesn't matter. There's no symbol connection there, trust me, we've analyzed it a hundred times," Robin countered while still being incredibly dense.

"Face it, you guys got the wrong girl," Beast Boy said with a laugh, bad guys looked like idiots whenever they pulled stuff like that.

"Ever check the back of her neck?" Gizmo said with an air of menace. All of the Hive 5 were smirking by this point, even the ever silent Kyd Wykkyd.

"O-" Robin was about to respond, when Raven, Starfire and Bumble Bee were frantically motioning no. Her head hadn't sustained any injuries so they didn't think about checking her neck.

All eyes turned to Kalico. She looked up at them calmly. Beast Boy made a few motions to lift up the back of her hair. After a while realized what was being asked and did so. There, branded on the back of her, laid the letter "S". It just had to be "S".

"S" for Slade.

"I was going to...tell you...about it, is it some sort of...lead(?) to the person...who was...attempting to buy me?" Kalico asked without understanding the looks of horror on the Titans faces.

Three very important things dawned on the Titans. Number one, Slade was back. He was also related to Jericho if what the Hive 5 were saying was true, and Slade thought that Kalico might be his daughter if the Hive 5 were right again. Number two, everyone from the Paris incident had been hiding for some time after being freed by Slade. Number three, Slade was calling in favors, never a good sign with the criminally minded. This was suddenly a whole lot more complicated.

*****Well, if that's not a cliff-hanger I don't know what is. This is the end of the first arc, the next chapter is a bonus until the second arc is commenced. Kalico will not be apart of the Teen Titans group, she throws off the whole dynamic of the group. If there are a ton of typos, please acknowledge the fact that it is really late where I am when I am finishing this up. Thank you for reading, and possibly you've seen a little thing that says review?

Also Kalico and Slade aren't related in the slightest. I meant that as a joking cliche. She has never been planned to EVER be related to the bad guys. Besides, Slade already has a biological daughter that's coming in.

Whoops.

Spoilers.

Please let me know I'm doing this right.

By filling out a little thing called a review.

Thanks!


	16. Bonus!

**Bonus Chapter:**

**Kalico's Costume!**

The blonde was surfing the net trying desperately to come up with a costume before sundown. If she didn't have one by then, the one that got the most votes designed by the team would win. She shuddered just thinking about it.

"Kali, are you close to being finished with designing your costume? We still must go shopping for supplies to make it," Starfire called from near the elevator.

"Not yet Kori," Kalico called out from her room underneath the tower.

A lot had changed since the day that she had been accepted into the team. They had invested a lot of money into finding out where exactly the underground facilities that she had been tortured in and came up with a lot of information and questions. The team also put a lot into renovating her room and training area underground. A specially made cast had been put on her leg to increase the rate that she would heal at. It had only taken three weeks to get it off.

The final touch though, had been flying to a plastic surgeon and burn removal resort and mostly getting rid of her facial burn. Exact lines were pasted into her photographic memory as Cyborg had called it. There had been a lot of tests to figure out exactly what was her damage as TV programs might refer to it. A little bit of sun had made it even less noticeable, but every time she looked in the mirror she could trace exactly where it was. It was better than having a charred face though.

All of this was paid for from the money she had attempted to extort from the Titans for the freeing of the Titans East, after paying damages for store owners. Now there was only one problem: a costume. Kalico had changed her name and wanted a fresh start with the public, and the horror began. Everyone wanted to help her make her costume.

Bumble Bee: I'd stay away from polka dots, far away. Stripes can work provided you do it right. Maybe your hair would look good some sort of ribbons or in small ponytails.

Speedy: Your costume is like a uniform. It should also be something you can move well in and are used to putting on. You can always go ahead to redo your original look. The past matters right?

Aqualad: Think that movement is good to focus on, but don't forget you'll have to wear it every day for as long as your a hero.

Mas y Menos: Make sure it stands out. (Maybe? It was in Spanish.)

Kid Flash: Ok, I know this might seem a bit weird compared to your last costumes, but what about spandex? VERY flexible. Also a high public approval rating and popular among the adult superheroes.

Jinx: Don't let Kid Flash scare you. He's a delusional idiot. Instead I recommend medium colors as you didn't want to go dark. They can be somewhat paler though and not bold like streaker over there. Try to think mobility and comfort, cotton or other fabrics mixed with cotton should work well.

Starfire: Have you thought of using purple as a key factor in your outfit? I can easily recommend some light-weight armor. Light amounts of jewelry could also set a final touch.

Beast Boy: Hmmm, lets try finding out some good colors. Purple's great! I know from experience. Blue's never a bad choice, and green would also highlight your eyes. I'd stay away from yellow or orange and Spandex gets kind of uncomfy sometimes. You can pull off red pretty well, but try not to make it stand out too much.

Cyborg: Have lots and lots of pockets, otherwise you won't be able to carry all of the stuff that Rob will want you to. I'd also some sort of reinforced head gear, you tend to get into scrapes more than you think. Oh! Symbols are cool.

Robin: Keep your Secret Identity a secret. I'd say a mask not a helmet. If you want to design your own, talk to Cyborg about getting it reinforced. Other than that, if you want to go back to wearing a cape, there's a company I know that makes the best. In fact, reinforced capes with thermal adjusters might just be something to look into either way.

Raven: There's no need to show off as much skin as Starfire. If you want something thin, make sure it covers you. Way to many people post pictures of my legs.

Things quickly began to spiral out of control as Kalico began to run out ideas, and the rest of the team patience. Robin soon declared a emergency meeting when Beast Boy had tried to use team funds to make his version of her costume into a reality. Robin declared a costume contest, with Kalico and the public as the final judges. The Titans East had heard about this and decided to join.

The rules were simple, restricted use of black, nothing revealing, and a mask were necessary. Costume makers online were allowed, and two forms could be submitted, one in color, one in black and white. Only one costume for each of the Titans. Only one vote for each Titan, and no voting for your own costume. If Kalico found a costume on her own before the week was up, no one won anything. The contest was open to online support from the public on which costume got the favorite pick.

The result was disaster.

There was a fan war within the media as the costumes were online unnamed and some refused to vote unless it was with their favorite Titan's design. Others began to hate on certain designs that they believed weren't good enough to be in the competition. If finally came down to Kalico drawing a blank even bigger than before, yet living in fear of the Spandex and other designs. So finally her and Starfire decided to go shopping incognito with the help of some large sunglasses, a hat, and holo-ring to avoid the horror.

Kalico dropped the sketch book on the bed and got up. It was no good coming up with a design when she couldn't think like this. Most of the things she did were pure instinct, which was how she had gotten away with so many things in her campaign against the Titans. It would be better to see what she could find and work from there. They had helped find Shadow's body, then they could help her find a costume.

Kalico joined Starfire in the elevator, she was also going incognito for this. The two of them decided to balance out the opinions of what to wear by bringing along Jinx, Raven. Bumble Bee would be impossible to bring along incognito due to the large wings on her back. That and she was also pretty busy carting her team's furniture across the country to their version of the Titans tower on the East Coast. It taken a long time to get there and back with all of there stuff, even with Gizmo's machines.

Which the Titans East didn't have at their disposal.

"Hey rascal, ready to go shopping?" Jinx asked while putting something that looked suspiciously like a cigarette in her pocket. She was wearing her hair down, and had put on a new holo-ring to disguise her pigmentation and natural eye color, the pink hair was staying though. Raven glared at the pinkette's audacity to smoke. A hooded jacket, skull tee, and blue jeans. Complete with big boots and heavy make-up made Raven look like a sterotypical goth.

All for her, the little scandal.

The ride over to the mall-place without incident. If Jinx's screaming to put her down this instant could be counted as something that would be just an normal, everyday occurrence. The mall itself was crowded with people, allowing it to be easy to shop in the thrift stores unnoticed. The world of soft fabrics awaited with Starfire having to remind herself constantly to remain firmly on Terra Firma. It was in and out of the changing rooms with so many clothes being hurled towards her that Kalico was trying not to be crushed.

Wait a minute. She held out something that had been tossed in at arms length it was so ugly. No one who wasn't color blind would put her in this monstrous yellow dress. Even then that would be an iffy circumstance with the cut of the damned thing. Kalico poked her head out of the changing room to see Mother May Eye trying to kidnap poor passerby and put them in stupid clothing with the help of a pie stand and huge hat.

She was already in a red dress with a black jacket, thick gray leggings and heels. It wasn't to hard to wobble over and deliver a swift round house kick that Robin had showed her the other day. Once the old bat was out of business and the girls recovering, Kalico managed to stumble back to the changing room and take off those vile shoes. Jinx was insane to wear them in combat. The only thing that worked out well were the stretchy leggings. In a split second decision, followed by a long debate only broken by an unanimous growling of three of the four stomachs, the leggings became apart of the costume.

The four heroes wandered around the food court with a new found suspicion at the crappy restaurants.

Kalico stayed by Jinx once they had settled on a place to eat. Stafire dragged Raven over to the bathroom after a very subtle kick underneath the table from the empath. No one was in the bathroom luckily so the two could talk in peace. In front of the sinks Starfire dropped Raven's arm allowing the half-demon to cross them.

"This isn't working," Raven stated bluntly. Starfire sighed, recognizing the unspoken problem.

"Kalico has worked very hard at designing a costume Raven. She has also completed the physical recuperation in half the time Robin allowed for. Kalcio has learned a good portion of the English language in a month by simply watching TV dramas, and is understanding the basis of first aid, swimming, and technology," Starfire sighed again, "I know that it is frustrating that she has not opened up to any of us. That is why we called Jinx over is it not?"

"She trusts a complete stranger more than the team that she'll be working with," Raven nearly snarled, checking herself and her own monotone to make sure none of her anger and frustration leaked into her powers.

"Can you truly blame her friend Raven? It is surprising that her physical recovery has been so speedy; her mental recovery though is exactly where Robin predicted it, maybe slightly behind. That is why we are helping her shop for a costume. To help her open up to us in a more casual setting." Starfire tried appealing to Raven's logical side.

"Let's just make sure that 'Lucky' hasn't gotten 'Kali' addicted to cigarettes," Raven grumbled opening the door to the outside. Sure enough, the two questionable members of the Titans were huddled together with a smoke line coming above the table. Starfire rolled up her big girl sleeves to confront the former villain with corrupting the youth. The two short girls glanced behind them with the approaching footsteps of the original Titans.

"Great way to be a role model Lucky," Raven said flatly.

"It's an electronic cigarette that KF got me. I'm telling Kali why it's bad to smoke and why it's a pain to have an electronic cigarette. I'm also helping her with her costume online, unlike you two. So I am a great role model," the pinkette shot back with the force of a cannon. Kalico chuckled a little to see that it wasn't just her who had problems with management, giving the first real smile she had in some time.

The blonde turned slightly so that the other girls could see what software had been used as a digital sketchbook. What it looked like was that she needed a long-sleeved white shirt and a mile long of dyes and variations on a single theme: a paw with flexed claws. Some badgering and eventual wearing down after Mexican food, Chinesse food, and fries were devoured made the selection become narrowed down to only three outfits and the atmosphere almost pleasant.

As cities tend to have more things than just a strip malls, the group made it's way to the alleyways with a newly bought soft white shirt. The towering buildings and long shadows along the "occult" Ox Street made the blonde look more and more at home with each passing step. A dying booth had a number of stencils to chose from and cardboard to keep the dye on one side. 15 bucks was a little bit of a rip off, but materials would be made ready-ordered and mass produced from some of the Titans' sponsors for the rest of the uniforms.

Luckily this was their last stop of the day due to an unexpected find of an unusual multi-colored fabric. The fabric was slightly transparent with a wavelike pattern that had lines crossing over on itself. The different colors and different shades of the somewhat itchy fabric nicknamed by the seller: "Stained Glass".

Almost everything had been purchased... except the shoes. Regardless of her stubborn protests, the glass manipulator was forced into trying shoe after shoe and walking around in them until it was damn near nightfall. The street lights were beginning to turn on and Kalico disapeared.

Losing a kid in the middle of a city is tough on any guardian, when that kid has superpowers that go haywire if they fall unconscious, it just gets worse. Raven blamed Jinx's bad influence. Jinx blamed Raven's distance from the girl. Starfire blamed herself for being so relaxed. Either way the blonde was missing in the city.

Thirty minutes latter, they passed by a dance studio with music blaring out the floor to ceiling windows. A small, hatted figure was watching the class with interest. A quick glance confirmed that there was only a select few people who would wear flip flops with a hat like that, and only one with that was vertically challenged.

Raven tapped the person on the shoulder. Sunglasses slightly askew, the missing child looked at the goth girl. Jinx stood tip toe in her heels to look at what might have caught Kalico's cat eye while the other two lectured and hugged the returned super. The dancers were wearing typical jazz ensemble: any type of shirt, jazz pants and jazz shoes. Shoes.

"You want their shoes, right? Lace up or not kid?" Jinx asked while taking a drag from her E-cigarette. The frustrated trio looked up at the resident smoker.

"No ties."

"Your outfit's settled then."

"Okay."

"I'm not sure what exactly you want to do with that itchy fabric though."

"I have idea."

"Does it require scissors?"

"Snipity-Snips?"

"They're called scissors."

"Sea-sores."

"I have a feeling you wouldn't spell it right."

"Yeah."

"Don't repeat Beast Boy you two. A trained partner is worth more than you think. I know she doesn't speak English too well, but that's no reason to not teach her everything you can. She isn't your partner, she's your trainee. You are her mentors, so don't mess it up." Jinx directed her final comment at the original duo that belonged to the Titans.

Raven and Starfire watched open mouthed as the two communicated without the difficulty that was present in so many of the tower's conversations. Kalico's head was turned slightly down and to the side from Raven holding her up by her shirt collar to look at the girl. Perhaps that was a part of the problem. Raven released her blonde prisoner gently after all, she did do go despite going about it the wrong way.

She had finally found all the costume materials, meaning they could all go home.

* * *

Scissors. Pattern. Material. Needle and thread. The necessary things for making a shirt.

If you know how to make a shirt.

Then end result of what Kalico could do would make a self respecting tailor cry at the amount of wasted material. The Titans were glad that the costume fiasco was finally over. Shoes, pants, white shirt with stripes like ribbons on the long sleeves and a flexed claw in the middle of it, a over-shirt of strange, see through fabric cut to have large straps, and a black and white quarter mask that covered her right eye and forehead.

Now for the press conferences. Another disaster waiting to happen.

*Well. That's it for this arc. The next one will be taking place through various villain's eyes.

Review so I know I'm doing this right!

Butterfly Crown~Over and Out!


	17. Red Is The New Black

Ok. Screw the other fic idea. It took me way long to try and figure things out on how things would work, and who to add in, and I could see the comedy, but that's not what you guys came here for. You came to see the Titans kick ass. Well, I'll give this story the good ending, Kalico dies. Her dying allows the characters that need to develop to fully develop and mature within reason. If that seems a bit screwy to you, well life is screwy.

**Chapter 17**

** Red Is The New Black.**

Red X easily outran the exhausted Titans. They were back in shape from the Ambassador Incident, but hadn't quite recovered. Seeing a step in the right direction for mankind's collective xenocidal tendencies take a leap back could do that to those that cared about crap like that.

A rounded alleyway and booby trapped fire escape made sure that they stayed away. Red X released the death grip he had been holding on the prototype drugs after another block and looked at the test tubes. Each one of these was going to make him a small fortune and guaranteed client for a while. He glanced at his watch and cursed quietly.

The cheap motel was on the corner of the street he had just passed. If he didn't meet her there soon then things were going to be unpleasant when he did show up. Red X lightened his footsteps as he retraced his steps. Starfire and Raven were hovering on the other end of the street above a different alleyway. Aliens never got cold, did they?

He waited until they returned to the main three and fanned out farther away from his destination. Once the Titans left the immediate vicinity, Red X took extra care in crossing the alleyway to the Star Motel. Probably wasn't going to get much in the way of travelers until the Do-Good community got themselves up in the public's eye.

There were two windows on the second floor that could be seen from behind. One had movement inside it. As funny as it be to make fun of whoever was in there, the second window had his buyer. The other window was dark, not even the curtains stirred. That'd be where he meets his man.

Red X used some of his Xenothium supply to create a trampoline and jumped to the dark window. He grabbed onto the windowsill and hoisted himself into the room. As usual he was disgusted with the meeting place of his employers.

Cheap, dirty and ugly from the amount of alcohol on the floors and nicotine stains on the walls, these were the types of places he wanted to get out of when he put on the suit. It was the perfect place for this kind of meeting though. A quick exit for either side, no walking into too much pain if you scoped it out right. Half crouching, half standing he observed the room.

"I've brought what was requested in the contract," Red X said to the darkness.

A girl with a yellow and black mask crossed to the other part of the shadowy room. Straight platinum blonde hair fell down her back. It was the only feature that he could make out about her besides her curves in the modest outfit she was wearing.

She stood on the other side of the fold out table in the room. Damn was this place disgusting. They didn't even bother to get a real table for the "kitchen" area. He pulled the drugs out of his pockets and a credit card scanner and put them on his side of the table. She took out a black card and scanned it, then took the drugs off the table.

"Very good, you've done well. I'll be sure to tell my father that you're a decent supplier, one that isn't Robin," Ravager added as she appraised the drugs in her hands.

"Glad to be of service. It's uncanny how people mistake me for Robin, like the Hive Dive mistook their directions to escort you and launched an assault on the Titan's Tower." A bit of humor went a long way in these kinds of talks. Show no fear to your enemies.

"The idea that a tattoo, even temporary, and a burn are anywhere near the same thing is complete lunacy. The apology was that he had to get rid of them by sending them to 'retrieve me'. All to **not** manage to get away with a useless demi-human-alien cast off. What a joke," Ravager finished.

"Or strait platinum and curly blonde are to be confused." Red X came closer and picked up a lock of hair on Ravager's shoulder.

"Careful. Don't want to mix work and pleasure." She said this lightly, but her eyes had a dangerous gleam to them.

Red X help onto her hair a tad longer before dropping it. This was simply another one of the mind games that everyone played. Those in the work place and the bedroom all knew how to play this game of wills. It was just a contest to see if you would win, just another contest.

"Unless work is a pleasure," Red X responded mock casually.

Her hand didn't linger on his when she gave him the money. A little more time with the ball in her court should tell if this could be a fun as well as mutually beneficial experience for the both of them. She with drew a folded up piece of computer paper from a hidden pocket in her uniform and handed it to him.

Red X glanced over it and raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet. There went the idea of date or getting lucky. Most of the things on here he could and would do with ease, for the right price. The last two were not in any contract he would take willingly.

"I'm a thief, not an arsonist. I should do this why?"

"I want something, you want something. We both can satisfy the other's wants. If you continue working the jobs that are listed, I can promise you something you can't get anywhere else." Ravager evaded a straight answer when she talked.

"Like?" Red X wasn't ready to buy something she was being so evasive about. If she wanted sex, she would have been more up front than this. They were both legal for crying out loud.

"Xenothium." The word electrified the tense air and made the thief sit up and take notice.

"How much?"

"Enough to power that suit of yours for nearly three hundred years."

Red X knew this was a bad idea, but it was a solid client, one he hadn't had in weeks. He mulled over the possibilities of taking the job. That much Xenothium meant that he could do bigger heists, make more money, get a solid way to look out for number one without jeopardizing anything. Get out and get safe. It didn't say it had to be a enormous bomb, just a fire. A fire that was not going to damage any priceless artifacts he might want to steal at a later date.

"We think alike. I'll take the jobs," Red X confirmed.

"Good, I'd hate to see you go so quickly," Ravager teased while giving him a flirtatious glance.

Red X and Ravager were a bit too close than was professional, they hadn't taken off their masks yet though. No masks, no trust, no fun. It was alright to have a bit of a tease though. That doesn't hurt too much.

"What the hell?! Baby, I think someone's in our room, the door's unlocked,"

There went any chance of phone numbers.

"What!? I'll teach those punks a lesson babe,"

And there went the email accounts. Was it really so hard to acknowledge that the cheap motel room you got was already occupied?

The door opened to an slightly familiar blonde and weird guy that seemed to be floating in the air. Ravager muscled past them, taking the stairs and Red X the window. Quick get away? Check. No guards ready to fry you? Well, aside from a fat motel security guard and a pissed off couple who bought the room, he was safe enough.

He was safe enough.

* * *

You as a reader realize that with the Jericho revelation that I'd done my homework, yes? If you did your homework, you'd find out that Slade already had a daughter, one that I've given a quick tattoo job on her neck for the purposes of the Hive 5 being idiots that jump to conclusions.

A great character that never got a chance in the show to come into play, but I'm giving a chance in here. No more apprentices. No more bad to good or good to bad. I give you...

Ravager.

She's awesome platinum blonde babe, a match for Robin on the fighting scale, and mild head cannon to Red X because why the heck not? He's too funny not to have someone cool as he is for a bit of returned flirtation. A flirtation that will never get in the way of the mission for either of them.

Sorry about the whole stupid "Trouble with Shizzam" set back. It was supposed to be a funny little story that had the Teen Titans and Justice League get a few laughs by tape recording what SHIZAM and Kalico would do if they meet each other under all of the wrong circumstances and their personalities just went overboard with culture clashes. Bet you didn't see that coming, huh TNTgirl? If she had survived I would have made everything go wrong. Now there won't be anything in the way of this story. I'm sorry for the people who wanted to see that story or her alive, but I had to do this or else I'd never get this story back on track.

I want to write the bad guys. This will now be, exclusively from the bad guys perspective, starting with our freelance thief- Red X.

Also, the idea that you just run around town with a suit case full of money is a bad idea unless you **want** to get caught. The idea of getting your money electronically to avoid things like losing money if the suit case pops open is very reasonable. A black card, basically the fat cat's card, would most likely have protection against stealing the information on it via heavy encryption. These are the modern villains people, and I'm going to enjoy keeping them up to date.


End file.
